tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37380720466493026662017-09-26T07:00:06.277-04:00Welcome Back to Gotham CityThe Bat Light's busted.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.comBlogger2690125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-45689672009893083222017-09-26T07:00:00.000-04:002017-09-26T07:00:06.287-04:00The Family That Preys Together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--GRHIT7q1Nk/WcmTg2VaYgI/AAAAAAAAeNg/odFL9CAJ5mkaA62rSLdcAkFgMuETkFMPgCLcBGAs/s1600/trump_bucks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--GRHIT7q1Nk/WcmTg2VaYgI/AAAAAAAAeNg/odFL9CAJ5mkaA62rSLdcAkFgMuETkFMPgCLcBGAs/s400/trump_bucks.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">(By <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Zen-Robert-Crawford-ebook/dp/B00AHXZ7Q2"><i>American Zen</i></a>'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)</span></div>“<i>Wennerström was devoting himself to fraud that was so extensive it was no longer merely criminal–it was business.</i>”<br /><span>"<i>You will be investigating thieves, bullies... the most detestable collection of people that you will ever meet- My family</i>."</span><br /> ― <a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/706255.Stieg_Larsson">Stieg Larsson</a>, <span id="quote_book_link_2429135"> <i><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1708725">The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</a></i></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A</b></span>ges and ages hence, there will come that revelatory eye-rubbing period when everyone except for your dyed-in-the-wool Neo Nazi white supremacist (aka your die-hard Trump voters) will wonder, "What the fuck happened on Election Night 2016?" From the epicenter that was post-war Nuremberg, I'm sure many Germans who'd survived that war asked themselves the same question about Election Night 1933.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "But... but, he <i>swore </i>he had the nation's best interests at heart, that he would make our nation great again!"</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet, it could at least be said that Hitler (even if only perhaps he had no family to speak of) never resorted to nepotism to position his family at the top echelons in the new government. But if Adolph Hitler had children, one gets the uneasy feeling they'd be alarmingly like Trump's two eldest sons Erik and Don Jr.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As just one simple reminder of what we're talking about, let's look at a recently-unearthed fact within the Trump family dynamic: That Donald Jr. and Ivanka wanted to screw Tiffany Trump <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trump-and-don-jr-tried-bump-tiffany-out-her-inheritance-according-newly-670841">out of her inheritance</a>. Trump admitted as much on the Howard Stern Show during the campaign and he may have said it for all 1% families when he told Stern,&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “I have a friend who is also like a very rich guy. And he said how his children hate the new children coming along and everything else; I said, 'Yeah, because every time you have a child, it's 20 percent less to the people.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In normal families, it's expected for the older siblings to get jealous over the seemingly lessened attention to them whenever a new baby comes into the family. Eventually, however, in <i>normal</i> families the older siblings get over it and lovingly accept the new one into the family dynamic. In families such as the Trumps, it's not the lessening of attention they worry about but the lessening of their inheritance no matter how massive that legacy will be.</span><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"> And, in true psychopathic fashion, Trump seems OK and accepting of that.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; And maybe, some day, Tiffany will simply drop out of sight, ashamed to be associated with her family, and will wish to strike out on her own. Perhaps she'll fake her own death as had the 16 year-old Harriet Vanger in Stieg Larsson's <i>The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</i>. But, knowing her three older siblings... who knows how it'll happen if it does?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><b>Breaking Fast With Tiffany</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZSgmT_S1Ttc/WcmYvCMe8cI/AAAAAAAAeN0/0YTLf5C6oSITngM6gpjalWi01bhQ_IGwQCLcBGAs/s1600/tiffany-kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="950" height="223" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZSgmT_S1Ttc/WcmYvCMe8cI/AAAAAAAAeN0/0YTLf5C6oSITngM6gpjalWi01bhQ_IGwQCLcBGAs/s400/tiffany-kiss.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>E</b></span>ven though I don't personally know the girl, I and, I'm sure, several of you have always suspected that Tiffany Trump is the Marilyn Munster of the Trump family. It's her normality and likeableness that automatically makes her an outcast in this bizarre collection of freaks that in itself is reminiscent of the Vanger family in <i>The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</i>. Being a First Daughter, she'll dutifully do her part for the sake of the family, keeps her opinions to herself but not a bit more. Who can forget October last year when, after a debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump leaned in to kiss Tiffany and <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/10/10/tiffany-trump-avoids-dad-kiss/#EbF0_fjWzaq6">she gracefully leaned away</a> like Esther Williams getting out of the path of a Great White?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump himself <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/tv/donald-trump-says-hes-proud-of-his-daughter-tiffany-to-a-lesser-extent/">admitted on Election Night</a>, “I'm very proud, because Don and Eric and Ivanka and—you know, to a lesser extent 'cause she just got out of school, out of college, but, uh, Tiffany, who has also been so terrific...”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So, it shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone who knows the first thing about this Vanger family come to life, this personification of the DSM-V that Trump's pride in his children is predicated on how much money they can grub. And, speaking of which, apparently being each an heir to about a billion apiece isn't enough for some of the spawn who still dream of that three-way cut.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It bears repeating, especially to anyone who has yet to read the internationally bestselling Millennium trilogy by left wing Swedish novelist and journalist </span><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">Stieg Larsson. Larsson was the kind of liberal this country needs in the field of journalism and at this precise time. With all due respect to the Mueller investigation, we need a left wing antidote to the noxious right wing fascists currently running loose over hill and dale.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mikael Blomkvist was little more than a thinly-disguised version of Larsson himself. <i>Expo</i>, also, was the real-life <i>Millennium</i>. However, even </span><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">Blomkvist never spent 1977 training far left Eritrean female guerilla fighters in the use of mortars. Until virtually the day of his death, Larsson tirelessly pushed back against right wing extremism that, as in the US, sometimes in Sweden rears its ugly head.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As with </span></span><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">his creation Blomkvist, Larsson was primarily a financial journalist who went after far right wing industrialists such as the ones who tried to engineer a fascist takeover of Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration in 1933. One would be hard-pressed if not outright confounded to think of a single American financial journalist today who would've considered it a calling, if not a quasi religious mission, to investigate fascist freaks such as the Trumps. These people have no loyalty to each other except when they share in the iniquity in which they're steeped, and have been steeped, practically from the cradle. And, as Tiffany shows, they will screw one of their own over a bigger percentage. Because that's what shockingly selfish people like the Trumps do.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="quote_book_link_2429135">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Barron, watch both sides of the street when you cross. Your father, after all, never even mentioned you on Election Night.</span></div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-3257755312511221032017-09-24T19:20:00.000-04:002017-09-24T20:36:06.202-04:00#BlackSunday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fufQlhpQ9Og/Wcgx3n19eOI/AAAAAAAAeMc/lGxnrAFUOUgrI6BwyWPHuBLJUx_86S-2QCLcBGAs/s1600/Trump-tweet9-23-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="605" height="207" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fufQlhpQ9Og/Wcgx3n19eOI/AAAAAAAAeMc/lGxnrAFUOUgrI6BwyWPHuBLJUx_86S-2QCLcBGAs/s400/Trump-tweet9-23-17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was a thrilling day for Patriots Nation (if, by thrilling, you mean coronaries every time the Texans were on the move with the defense unable to stop them). Down 33-28 with a few seconds over two minutes to go, Tom Brady engineered one of his patented two minute drills and led the Patriots to a 36-33 win over the Houston Texans. But that wasn't THE story of the day, was it? No. No, it was not.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The real story was Donald Trump having yet another epileptic seizure on Twitter this morning and pre-emptively warning NFL players not to take a knee during the National Anthem and, if they did, Trump's billionaire buddies should fire or suspend them. It was the second time Trump egregiously violated federal law by trying to suppress free speech guaranteed to us in the First Amendment.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Patriots-Texans game began with many Texans across the gridiron taking a knee during the national anthem and Tom Brady himself, yes, Trump's #1 fanboy in the NFL, the one who figuratively took a knee and decided not to meet Trump when the Super Bowl champion Patriots went to the WH, Tom fucking Brady, he who had a MAGA hat in his locker, linked arms with his teammates in solidarity.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So let us call today #BlackSunday (with apologies to Thomas Harris).<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Because Trump essentially tried to put out a grease fire with water and what happens when one does that? You make the fire spread. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4914628/Trump-calls-boycott-NFL-kneeling-protests.html"><i>The Daily Mail</i></a> in the UK, of all papers, was quick to pick up on the movement and show of solidarity for the excommunicated originator of this movement, Colin Kaepernick. And, don't forget, the UK is famously indifferent toward American football. But this wasn't about football, was it? Again, no. No, it was not.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The statistics, including Tom Brady's late 4th quarter heroics, will dutifully be entered into the books and the wins and losses faithfully tabulated and the records adjusted. But the real story today, that 130 NFL players, including white players such as Tom Brady and even one or two of Trump's white billionaire buddies who's even chipped in a cool million bucks towards his tiny inaugural, stood behind their players and teammates.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While Trump is now strutting around like a pigeon that just shat on a chess board and pretends it won the game, Trump was publicly humiliated by the entire NFL from the owners down to players and even a referee or two to the British newspapers. It's laughable that Trump called for a boycott of the NFL should Kaepernick's quiet, peaceful protest spread to other players. Yet, if Wembley Stadium is any indication, Trump couldn't even keep Londoners from attending the Raven-Jaguars game.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Just as he's waged a war on the federal judiciary, women, late night comedians, the mainstream media and just about anyone of consequence who has officially or unofficially disagreed with him, Trump has lately waged war against the sports world. The man who'd been denied the chance to buy the Buffalo Bills (later making Trump, of course, disparage them on Twitter- Aesop would call it "sour grapes") was just humiliated not by one club but every club in two nations and on two continents.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It all started when Stephen Curry, the NBA star of the world champion Warriors, floated the idea that if they go to the White House to meet Trump, it would be a great opportunity <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4600924/Warriors-unanimously-vote-skip-White-House-invite.html">to make a statement</a>. <b><i>Well...</i></b><br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; When his Umber Umbrage heard that, well, he couldn't have <b><i>that</i></b>, a black man causing him embarrassment, So, naturally, he took to his shit stained blue perch once again and rescinded an invitation to Curry and the entire team that the Warriors front office said had never been made.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Of course, Trump is ludicrously framing this for the benefit of his mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging MAGA maggot supporters as an insult to the American flag and the nation as a whole. Whether he's deliberately misinterpreting this growing movement or, like a typical out of touch white billionaire, he actually believes his own tweets, one fact is clear- Trump's heavy-handed and ham-fisted attempt to bring black players to heel blew up in his fat face like a prank cigar the size of Long Island.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Of course, as any fairly well-informed child can tell you, Colin Kaepernick's quiet protests just prior to 49er's games last year was in protest of African Americans, especially the unarmed ones, getting killed by overzealous police. It had nothing to do with disrespecting the flag or the nation. If anything, Kaepernick's silent, seminal protests (that appear to have cost him his playing career) showed respect for the flag and an even better ideology than those which guided the Founding Fathers in the 18th century-<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Kaepernick did not wish for the flag to be synonomized with unchecked, racially-driven brutality and animus visited on African Americans on a daily basis, that those ideals ought to be rejected when paying fealty and allegiance to a flag and a nation.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump doesn't get it either way, whether he deliberately misinterprets Kaepernick's stand or if he really believes that in his orange hamster ball at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, But black people as a whole do not like him, they never did and they never will. Trump showed his true color (because he recognizes just one- white- which, ironically, is all colors) after Charlottesville. He had a golden opportunity, several, to repudiate the white nationalist movement and he chose not to.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The fact remains that Trump has gone after Colin Kaepernick, Jamele Hill and Stephen Curry with more viciousness and vitriol than he ever did the Neo Nazis, the KKK or white nationalists (that he called "very fine people.").<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And, to any right wing nut case reading this, let me close with this salvo: If you have much more of a problem with black players taking a knee during the national anthem than white Baltimore cops taking a knee on Freddie Gray's back, not only do you have a problem, this entire nation has a problem.<br />(<b>Addendum</b>: Next time Trump tries to wax pious about patriotism, the flag and the national anthem, remind him of this now infamous moment after a GOP debate.)<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgKGbWTIxG0/WchPXivmgvI/AAAAAAAAeMs/wQ2lXRewYFUMT2R8yxYYDQFppEg7nooMACLcBGAs/s1600/heartless%2BSOB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="800" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgKGbWTIxG0/WchPXivmgvI/AAAAAAAAeMs/wQ2lXRewYFUMT2R8yxYYDQFppEg7nooMACLcBGAs/s400/heartless%2BSOB.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-66712764614493902062017-09-20T12:05:00.000-04:002017-09-20T14:34:58.482-04:00Slide, Kelly, Slide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SAdw7bK9KDg/WcKHfkVgu3I/AAAAAAAAeLw/Eid2c10G8iksyvIK0eVbTp1kGnaV-NDlwCLcBGAs/s1600/kelly%2Bfacepalm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SAdw7bK9KDg/WcKHfkVgu3I/AAAAAAAAeLw/Eid2c10G8iksyvIK0eVbTp1kGnaV-NDlwCLcBGAs/s400/kelly%2Bfacepalm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This is WH Chief of Staff John Kelly yesterday during Donald Trump's "Talk Like a Pirate Day" speech at the United Nations. I'm unsure at what part of the speech Kelly did this epic face palm. It could've been at the point where Trump called Kim Jong Un "Rocket Man" or threatened to completely destroy North Korea. Or it could've been when he was bragging about Trump Tower across the street. Or it could've been when Trump, in true right wing fashion, began ragging on the UN for not pulling its weight.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It doesn't matter. Donald Trump's entire sham presidency has been nothing but an endless highlight reel for late night comedians (Oh, Jon Stewart, why did you retire just as Trump announced his candidacy?). Just a couple of weeks ago, it leaked out to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyer-ty-cobb-email-russia-2017-9">Business Insider</a> that Trump lawyer Ty Cobb wrote an email saying "me and Kelly (sic)" were the "adults in the room." The jury's out on whether or not Cobb qualifies as an adult but Gen. Kelly certainly fits the bill.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That leaves two questions for the half-assed political analyst: If Kelly is so mature and competent, how the hell did he ever get hired by Trump in the first place? Trump's the guy who invited professional right wing assclowns Kid Rock, Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent into the Oval Office, who installed Joe Pesci's <i>Goodfellas</i> character as Communications Director, made the <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/mitch-mcconnells-freighted-ties-shadowy-shipping-company/">daughter of a drug lord</a> who was caught with nearly 100 pounds of cocaine on one of his ships Transportation Secretary, made a witless, grinning charter school fuckstick billionaire his Education Secretary and shoehorned <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/08/01/top-trump-administration-officials-flock-to-weekly-bible-study-classes-at-white-house/?utm_term=.51734a347e1a">Savonarola 2.0</a> as Chief of the CIA.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With such a track record for creating such an unprecedented <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/kakistocracy">kakistocracy</a> that belongs in some work of dystopian fiction by Sinclair Lewis or George Orwell, you have to wonder how such a capable man found himself in this government that's straight out of <i>Idiocracy</i>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z2Ybi6M55Nw/WcKObEiOspI/AAAAAAAAeMA/IGeAM6D1C4cFWXHNQkiManvY9f56QG1JwCLcBGAs/s1600/john%2Bkelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z2Ybi6M55Nw/WcKObEiOspI/AAAAAAAAeMA/IGeAM6D1C4cFWXHNQkiManvY9f56QG1JwCLcBGAs/s400/john%2Bkelly.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The second question we must ask ourselves is, What the fuck is keeping this man in this government? Indeed, when you look at Kelly's face at Trump's public appearances, such as his "<a href="http://people.com/politics/john-kelly-looks-down-trump-charlottesville-press-conference-memes-reactions/">many sides</a>" speech about Charlottesville, one gets the feeling he's the First Mate who, instead of helping passengers on the lifeboats, was just ordered by the captain to shuffle the deck chairs on the <i>Titanic</i> just after it collided with the iceberg.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And sometimes, as Kelly showed in Phoenix, he <a href="http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/general-kelly-embarrassed-trump-phoenix/4463/">refuses to share the stage</a> with Trump.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If Kelly's smart, he's thinking of a way to slide out of this government while he still has some credibility left. After all, look what the Bush White House did to Colin Powell after his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErlDSJHRVMA">now infamous presentation</a> to the UN Security Council.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sPynm0S-akk/WcKRKatmk1I/AAAAAAAAeMM/XaqWoK_qXOkDO8BkAgiVPtZAHxsLX9sogCLcBGAs/s1600/kelly%2Bfacepalm2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sPynm0S-akk/WcKRKatmk1I/AAAAAAAAeMM/XaqWoK_qXOkDO8BkAgiVPtZAHxsLX9sogCLcBGAs/s400/kelly%2Bfacepalm2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yeah, if he's smart, he's weighing his options.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-47354600412866173822017-09-17T16:37:00.000-04:002017-09-17T19:02:01.388-04:00Good Cop, Bad Cops Pt 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LO7KK6HVtuo/Wa3Bzs_cpJI/AAAAAAAAeKk/J7xKMyKEUE0VEUymknR0vPkwGuNmiZqRACLcBGAs/s1600/good%2Bcop-bad%2Bcop3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="297" height="228" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LO7KK6HVtuo/Wa3Bzs_cpJI/AAAAAAAAeKk/J7xKMyKEUE0VEUymknR0vPkwGuNmiZqRACLcBGAs/s400/good%2Bcop-bad%2Bcop3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(By <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Zen-Robert-Crawford-ebook/dp/B00AHXZ7Q2"><i>American Zen</i></a>’s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)</div><div style="text-align: justify;">(<b>Disclaimer</b>: The proprietor of this blog and Mr. Wilson have an ongoing years-long friendship, in which the former has benefited on several occasions by the generosity of the latter. However, that in no way, shape or form has influenced the blog owner’s decision to post a series of articles about his case nor the content of what is written below.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2017/06/good-cop-bad-cop.html">Part One</a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: serif;"><a href="http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2017/07/good-cop-bad-cops-pt-ii.html">Part Two</a>. </span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A</span>s Trooper Wilson began to realize the actual particulars of his case, he began fearing for his personal security. Yes, a career soldier and policeman began to have misgivings about his safety. <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet, as we'll see at the end of this installment, that was but the start of his worries.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; About two weeks after the Bar Overseers responded, Tpr Wilson, an Army Reservist, was notified he was being activated to serve as a drill sergeant at Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri. This would separate him from his legal counsel but this inconvenience was leavened by his remove from Massachusetts, theoretically keeping him safe from reprisals. Like a plot out of a bad spy novel, Wilson was informed by his son that he and his mother were being shadowed by someone closely answering the description of a State Police Internal Affairs investigator attached to his case. Either he was very bad at his job or was deliberately making no attempt at discretion in the interests of intimidation. Either way, it was only after Tpr Wilson had notified his State Police barracks commander that he was ready to contact the feds that the harassment had ceased.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In order to beat the statute of limitations, Tpr Wilson had filed a <i>pro se</i> lawsuit against the Franklin PD at the end of 2003. In it were charges of assault and battery, defamation and false imprisonment. His intention was to secure legal representation in order to launch that suit and, later, another against the MA State Police. The complaint, along with one to the Board of Bar Overseers, established his knowledge of the conspiracy. It's notable that, by early 2004, officers in both the Franklin PD and the State Police abruptly began retiring, including the Chief of the Franklin PD and Major John Burns, the head of the Internal Affairs unit that had been stalking Tpr Wilson's family.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; In late 2003, as his year-long duty stint came to its completion,Trooper Wilson had accepted a year-long posting to Ft Benning as a Drill Sergeant. Early on, he'd reached out to the head of the Mass Minority State Police Officers Association. By this time, however, he realized that this official had been systematically betraying him by informing the State Police of his strategies and intentions while making a hash of the investigation.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Following the mass exodus that had already begun, by spring 2004 the Col. Superintendent and his Lt. Col. assistant tasked with Wilson's disciplinary action had also abruptly resigned. While resignations occur all the time, what made this noteworthy, if not newsworthy, was that the Colonel resigned well before his term was up.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With this development Tpr. Wilson contacted local reporters to suggest that his case played a major part in the spate of resignations. What <i>really</i> should've raised eyebrows was when his assistant quit at exactly the same time. And as further proof the mainstream media is essentially worthless, the local newspapers here in Massachusetts never bothered to delve into the exact reasons <i>why</i> they were abruptly resigning. The closest the papers would come to revealing the reasons for the scuttling away was "dirty laundry." And it became clear to Wilson they were turning in their credentials to protect their pensions. But as for the who's, what's, when's, where's and why's? Well, that was another story. And by that I mean there <i>was</i> none.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was the gathering storm involving Trooper Wilson's allegations and the State Police coverup, not to mention the dereliction of duty on the part of his legal team who'd been working both tables, prosecution <i>and</i> defense, simultaneously. In other words, there was plenty of smoke but no one suspected or cared there was a fire under it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>One Shade of Grayer</b></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A</b></span>s it turned out, Trooper Wilson's nightmare of thieving, duplicitous, incompetent attorneys was just beginning. This time, instead of waiting to be assigned another, he'd sought out C. David Grayer. Grayer came well recommended by his own sister who'd had him as a law instructor in college. To launch the <i>pro se</i> lawsuits against the Franklin and State Police, Grayer took a $10,000 retainer from Wilson. Finally, some traction!</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Or so he thought.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Months after forwarding the retainer, Wilson received no subsequent contact from Grayer. When Wilson finally got hold of him, Grayer asked Wilson if he'd spoken with his associate, Harrison Fitch. Problem: Fitch was already <i>very</i> well-known to Wilson, namely through his affiliation with the aforementioned Major Burns and the Internal Affairs Division that was stalking Wilson's family. For his part, Grayer was unaware that Wilson knew about this alliance between Fitch and Burns (a strange assumption to make with a policeman). In the end, "no legal action was taken against the State Police and the case was subsequently dismissed from court for failure to comply," to use Wilson's own words. Bottom line: Grayer took $10,000 out of Wilson's pocket for doing absolutely nothing. Well, nothing to Wilson. From the Massachusetts State Police's viewpoint, he magnificently did his job in spiking the lawsuits against them and their brothers in arms in Franklin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By now, poor Trooper Wilson must have felt like a lead in a Pod People sci fi movie. Everyone to whom he'd turned wound up working for the bad guys or <i>were</i> the bad guys. His lawsuits now seemingly blown out of the water and given a State Police chopper ride to the legal morgue, Wilson had no recourse but to file complaints against his last two lawyers with the MA State Board of Bar Overseers. When he did so, he got some surprising news: Grayer didn't practice tort law (a revelation you'd think he'd make to Mr. Wilson but I guess he really needed that $10,000). Furthermore, in violation of legal ethics, Grayer then subcontracted Wilson's lawsuits to another lawyer and agreed to split the loot with him. That other lawyer was the morally, ethically, and most importantly, legally compromised Mr. Harrison Fitch, Esq.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A thinking person acquainted with the particulars of this case would justifiably wish they were a fly on the wall just to see the look on Burns' buddy's face when he read the brief and saw Wilson's name on it. Then Fitch showed what a true profile in courage he was when he essentially hid from Wilson and failed to tell him of the conflict of interest and his failure to file the paperwork in time. Their reason for hoping their incompetent collusion was almost comical: They were hoping that Trooper Wilson would get deployed to Iraq and that his death would give them that permanent degree of blessed separation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Instead, these do-nothing shysters got much more time off than they'd bargained for- After a determination, the BBO had ruled to suspend Grayer for five years. Fitch is <i>still</i> suspended after more than a decade and was reduced to asking the BBO for permission to work as a paralegal. And before you ask, yes, their collusion in spiking Mr. Wilson's case was one of several reasons to suspend both lawyers. (Grayer's suspension order can be <a href="https://bbopublic.blob.core.windows.net/web/f/bd07-094.pdf">found here</a> and Fitch's own ongoing suspension order can be <a href="https://bbopublic.blob.core.windows.net/web/f/bd06-036-1.pdf">found here</a>. They both sound like something out of a bad John Grisham novel.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Catch-22</b></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>B</b></span>etween the spring of 2005 and January 2009, Trooper (Now US Army Sergeant) Wilson did not go gently into that Iraqi good night as his so-called lawyers had hoped. He had, instead, served at various Army posts in various capacities ranging from Counter-Intelligence Special Agent, Military Intelligence Drill Sergeant and finished a six-year tour, again, as a Military Police Drill Sergeant. After getting mysterious phone calls from the MA State Police inquiring about his return, he'd learned his family's home had been burgled. Some legal documents were rifled through and, oddly, only a video game was stolen. The local detectives investigating the burglary advised him it was someone's attempt to send him a message. And they were completely ignorant regarding his legal situation.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; About a year later, his son's mother reported having been followed by a light-skinned African American man with a shaved head in a red Ford Taurus. Days later, he'd gotten another cryptic phone call from a trooper again inquiring about his return. This caller perfectly fit the description of the man who'd been following Wilson's son's mother. Wilson shot back he was aware of his ex-girlfriend's suspicions. Furthermore, he'd warned he would liaise with the Army's CID and contact the FBI. The stalking and burglaries ceased... for a time.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For those unfamiliar with the laws regarding this, it's worth noting all military service spent during wartime counts toward state-service retirement. Trooper Wilson left his job with the MA State Police after 14 years of honorable service. He'd returned with over two decades and was already eligible for retirement. However, in spite of honorable service with both the DoD and Massachusetts State Police, Wilson encountered animosity from a Major who was his Troop Commander. It's also noteworthy that all returning service members undergo background, physical and psychological exams. After passing the physical and background check with flying colors, he ran into an obstacle with the behaviorist conducting the psych eval. In the spirit of openness, he informed the behaviorist about his Major's hostility and ongoing legal struggles with the MA State Police. Over the course of four counseling sessions, he'd even provided corroborating documentation.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Incredibly, the behaviorist decided Trooper Wilson was unfit to return to duty and that, furthermore, his well-documented claims of persecution and retribution was evidence of PTSD, despite the fact Trooper Wilson hadn't served in any combat capacity. In other words, he could've either silently accepted this ongoing "conspiracy" (the psychiatrist's own word) to prevent him from getting relief from a court or he could have reported the abuse and detonated his law enforcement career. Fighting his persecution and betrayal at the hands of the State Police and his incompetent attorneys constituted grounds for rejection. In other words, Catch-22, only in reverse- By being cognizant of the potential danger he was in, he was deemed too crazy to take back.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He disagreed with the diagnosis even as Wilson's Troop Commander illegally attempted to prevent him from attending drills conducted by his unit at Ft Meade, a strange turn of events considering Wilson had been rejected as unfit to return by the state police's own shrink. 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text-align:justify; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-86046267879098589332017-09-09T17:14:00.000-04:002017-09-09T17:25:50.710-04:00Facebook Posts From the Edge&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Some of my more interesting posts on FB for the last week or so. Sorry I haven't time for anything more substantial. I'm working on a new book plus I'm in the teeth of another article. <br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="349" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D277051856132656%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=400" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="260" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D277061912798317%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="502" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D277055826132259%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="239" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D276725226165319%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; 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overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="482" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D275879259583249%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="502" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D275585992945909%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="587" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D275143576323484%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="511" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D275136169657558%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="310" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D274825499688625%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="357" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D274787196359122%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="349" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D274763159694859%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="491" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D274370133067495%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br /><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="502" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D274019729769202%26id%3D100014835313550&amp;width=500" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="450"></iframe><br />jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-6615118480879729562017-09-08T20:10:00.002-04:002017-09-08T20:10:43.272-04:00Caption Contest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MlQDW8Bja0Q/WbMxU4TJZ7I/AAAAAAAAeLQ/n96SQF42280FSCuDUKpaPPmK0-TkekeXwCLcBGAs/s1600/hurricane-trump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1024" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MlQDW8Bja0Q/WbMxU4TJZ7I/AAAAAAAAeLQ/n96SQF42280FSCuDUKpaPPmK0-TkekeXwCLcBGAs/s400/hurricane-trump.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Trump is advised not to go to Mar-a-Lago this weekend and why.</div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-15812097429111060432017-09-08T16:14:00.001-04:002017-09-08T16:20:32.170-04:00Top Ten Reasons Why Trump Fired Comey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OVsmQDsD-_g/WbL0Vv79PaI/AAAAAAAAeK8/lX0IywnNmZsWi75edlQXV1uNjVbulIMxwCLcBGAs/s1600/trump-angry2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="700" height="216" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OVsmQDsD-_g/WbL0Vv79PaI/AAAAAAAAeK8/lX0IywnNmZsWi75edlQXV1uNjVbulIMxwCLcBGAs/s400/trump-angry2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Late last month, special prosecutor and former FBI Director Robert Mueller <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/politics/trump-comey-firing-letter.html">obtained a first draft of the letter</a> written by President Donald Trump and his top aides that resulted in the firing of James Comey as FBI Director. The final draft of the letter states Mr. Comey was terminated on May 9th because of his handling of the Clinton email investigation and Mr. Trump believing he could not effectively lead the FBI. However, the original draft was four pages long and had been characterized by its "angry, meandering tone" and listed, in fact, several reasons why Mr. Trump had decided to terminate Mr. Comey's tenure. What were they?<br /><hr> <li><b> 10)</b> During January private dinner with Comey, was disappointed he had not brought Hillary Clinton's severed head for the entree.</li> <li><b> 9) </b>Loyalty oath involved hazing ritual that included a panty raid on female senators' offices.</li> <li><b> 8)</b> Used too many bigly words like "email" and "the".</li> <li><b> 7) </b>Left slobber on his ring.</li> <li><b> 6)</b> Originally used and was ultimately embarrassed by his Terminator tactic and fired three other James Comeys before at last finding the real one.</li> <li><b> 5)</b> Refused to say grace during private dinner thanking Vladimir Putin for the food.</li> <li><b> 4)</b> Comey refused to say whether or not Trump was under investigation&nbsp; to determine if he was the greatest President ever.</li> <li><b> 3)</b> During Comey's Trump-era tenure, ratings were bad, very bad. </li> <li><b> 2)</b> Demurred when Trump asked him if he'd like to fuck Melania on the Resolute Desk. </li> <li><b> 1)</b> Attorney General Sessions very uncomfortable with his and the 6' 8" Comey's three foot height difference.</li>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-25688363666715684102017-08-31T19:36:00.003-04:002017-08-31T19:36:46.299-04:00On This Day 129 Years Ago...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wm-rDVRXpuU/WaiY6COAhAI/AAAAAAAAeKM/TEtKrZ9kvOco5BEo3oTHHa7izCjiDCxogCLcBGAs/s1600/Tatterdemalion-complete%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1093" data-original-width="1600" height="272" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wm-rDVRXpuU/WaiY6COAhAI/AAAAAAAAeKM/TEtKrZ9kvOco5BEo3oTHHa7izCjiDCxogCLcBGAs/s400/Tatterdemalion-complete%2Bcover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ...Jack the Ripper killed his first victim, Polly Nichols. Read how Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Sitting Bull and Arthur Conan Doyle got him in <a href="http://amazon.com/dp/B00WH7IFM4">TATTERDEMALION</a>. The paperback version can be <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4633360">found here</a>.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-35729536438128686602017-08-30T18:05:00.001-04:002017-08-30T18:14:57.379-04:00Devant Moi, le Déluge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fKR_w8NIQ08/WacbiItaIoI/AAAAAAAAeJM/RQMtatscKhIc6xazIaABN_DQDTg2tn-iwCLcBGAs/s1600/MSNBC-Trump-Texas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="763" height="207" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fKR_w8NIQ08/WacbiItaIoI/AAAAAAAAeJM/RQMtatscKhIc6xazIaABN_DQDTg2tn-iwCLcBGAs/s400/MSNBC-Trump-Texas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(By <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4076183"><i>American Zen</i></a>'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)</div><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;<i>Well there's floodin' down in Texas<br />All of the telephone lines are down<br />And I've been tryin' to call my baby<br />Lord and I can't get a single sound</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Well dark clouds are rollin' in<br />Man I'm standin' out in the rain.</i>&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;">- "Texas Flood", Stevie Ray Vaughan</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I</b></span>t didn't start out very promisingly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We'd known for days the Texas panhandle was going to get seriously slammed by Hurricane Harvey. Even without the aid of someone <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/25/politics/donald-trump-hurricane-harvey-natural-disaster-response-test/index.html">heading the NOAA</a>, meteorologists had predicted days before the storm made landfall that it was going to be a Cat 3, perhaps a 4, and all the predictions and simulations were absolutely spot on. What they couldn't predict, however, was how devastating the flooding would be.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But fear not, Deplorables, because Donald came to the rescue... sort of. After lambasting President Obama for appearing in New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Trump sneered from his little blue perch about how Obama was "<a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/263746662978166785">standing in a puddle</a>" and "acting like a president." Which, of course, Mr. Obama was. The 44th president arrived in the most devastated areas while Trump said "neener neener" even as he was preparing to lay the groundwork for <a href="https://thesternfacts.com/proof-trump-tower-moscow-had-land-and-plans-his-lawyer-lied-to-hide-it-6d14939610f3">a new Trump Tower in Moscow</a>. Meanwhile, the president brought tidings of hope, and followed through on them on the form of a $50.5 billion aid bill that 19 out of 20 Texas Republicans tried and failed to scuttle that put Chris Christie's fat little head on Mr. Obama's shoulder, thereby effectively ending his political ambitions outside of Trenton.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Then, as with domestic terror attacks, a Category 4 hurricane in the Gulf region is virtually an inevitability for a new President. If nothing else, it offers the chance for photo ops and to act presidential and to show leadership even if, as with Bush, your heart really isn't in it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But Trump dragged his responsibilities, starting with the very rudiments of presidential optics and follow-through, down to a new low. While George W. Bush exactly 12 years ago surveyed the devastation in NOLA from a coign of vantage in Air Force One and began blabbering at Louis Armstrong Airport about his dissolute frat boy days in New Orleans, eventually Bush did the ten cent tour, visited the devastation and hugged a few victims.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump stood on a loading dock behind a fire engine and a Suburban SUV in Corpus Christi, blathering on about the size of the crowd, essentially starting a Rodney Dangerfield routine ("What a crowd! What a turnout!"), said a few meaningless platitudes, circled around a 15 mile radius then was back in DC in time for lunch. Melania stood behind him thankfully not wearing the four inch stiletto heels she'd worn earlier that day on the way to Marine One. He'd warned his aides in advance not to let him get wet because, you know, gremlins. In that, he was spectacularly successful. Trump barely got the soles of his new boots damp and never met with a single victim in a state in which he'd beat Hillary <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Texas,_2016">by exactly 9 points</a>. Oddly, the press didn't have a problem with that.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Houston, You Have a Problem But I Don't Care to Hear About It</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u5x3zQKdywc/WaclgnujPBI/AAAAAAAAeJc/zgsVqiYWJHI0V3lK3awi38nJj_awh0fbACLcBGAs/s1600/novictims.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u5x3zQKdywc/WaclgnujPBI/AAAAAAAAeJc/zgsVqiYWJHI0V3lK3awi38nJj_awh0fbACLcBGAs/s400/novictims.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>C</b></span>NN caved, Fox (of course) caved and even Joey Scar caved. Even Trump's most virulent critics are praising his so-called Texas visit because the MSM are so desperate to show the American public that Trump's visit was gaffe-free and presidential, they'll squint until they can't see any more to convince us, and themselves, that we actually have leadership during the greatest natural disaster in the US this year. But, as usual, Trump didn't get off to a good start.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By that time five Texans drowned (that Trump still hasn't acknowledged any more than he's acknowledged the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville earlier this month). On Sunday at Camp David, Trump began his day at 7:45 AM <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/901772550405070848">pimping Sheriff David Clarke's new book</a> of right wing conspiracy theories (Maybe if Houston buys enough copies, they'll finally be able to start soaking up the 20 feet of water). 19 minutes later, he essentially <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/901772550405070848">pats himself on the back</a> for sitting on his fat, pasty ass in Camp David while actual rescue workers risk their lives to save the flood victims. An hour and 11 minutes later, he announces, "I will also be going to a wonderful state, Missouri, that I won by a lot in '16. Dem C.M. is opposed to big tax cuts. Republican will win S!" Because, you know, he won the presidency and won bigly in Missouri, in case you didn't know.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By 9:44, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/901802524981817344">he's harping on the wall again,</a> and insisting Mexico will pay for it, despite <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/trump-threatens-government-shutdown-over-border-wall-1031893571629">threatening to shut down the government</a> if he didn't get the wall funding from Congress in the upcoming omnibus spending bill. Oh, and Mexico's still full of criminals. Seven minutes later, still obsessed with Mexico, he then lambastes NAFTA as he had on the campaign trail and insists we still have to renegotiate it. Yes we do. But apparently, he thinks now's the perfect time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And Trump <i>is</i> a master of timing. He proved it when he pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the racist who'd yet to be convicted for violating a court order that forbade him from racially profiling Hispanics to check their immigration status. With the President of Finland standing next to him, Trump brazenly said he'd announced Arpaio's pardon to coincide with Hurricane Harvey because he thought <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-finland-harvey-arpaio-russia.html">he'd get "far higher ratings</a>."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Interspersed with the smattering of other August 27th tweets was Trump essentially saying, "<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5200940">Gee, who knew?</a>"</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By today, Trump made good on his promise to go to Missouri to talk about simplifying the tax code because giving himself and his fellow billionaire scumbags a massive tax cut at the expense of needed services and agencies (such as, oh, I don't know, the NOAA) is exactly what the people drowning in Texas want to hear right now.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Return of the Prodigal President</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y-ONk0vqSDw/WacuWxUh7bI/AAAAAAAAeJs/A111VkkYF9gYMp_x9ZPjSR4Igcufrb3BACLcBGAs/s1600/port%2Barthur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="780" height="223" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y-ONk0vqSDw/WacuWxUh7bI/AAAAAAAAeJs/A111VkkYF9gYMp_x9ZPjSR4Igcufrb3BACLcBGAs/s400/port%2Barthur.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>B</b></span>ut in case you were one of the very few naysayers who <i>still</i> weren't satisfied that Trump could be all he could be, he's promised to donate part of one of his countless vacation days to return to Texas this Saturday. But one would justifiably be worried that Trump has all the facts in hand or that he even cares to know them. Yesterday, Trump essentially did a drive-by </div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Because by today, Trump has already gone down on record as talking about tax cuts for others like him not once but twice yet has never once mentioned that Port Arthur, the birthplace of Janis Joplin, <a href="http://Port Arthur">is now completely underwater</a>. Something else our law and order, cop-worshipping president never saw fit to mention while hawking Clarke's book or his tax reform: A Houston police officer <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/29/us/harvey-houston-police-officer-dies/index.html">died in the line of dut</a>y trying to save people from drowning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By now, one could be forgiven if Trump privately wishes he could build that wall, a circular one, around Houston to better drown the very same brown people he'd lambasted on Sunday's tweet storm. Houston is, after all, 36% Hispanic, 25% of the city being of Mexican descent. As horrible as Bush's reaction was to Katrina and New Orleans, which was, before the right wing gentrification sank in, 66% African American, Bush at least tried to play the part.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Let me again describe <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-in-visiting-hurricane-ravaged-texas-trump-keeps-the-focus-on-himself/2017/08/29/3037a4a6-8cc3-11e7-84c0-02cc069f2c37_story.html">what yesterday was like</a>: Trump stood on a loading dock at a fire station, far away from another living human being except for his wife. He never once mentioned the five we know of who were killed, never called on his fellow Americans to help in the relief and rescue efforts (Not that he needed to because fortunately we are a species that produces heroes where none are expected) and never made a plea for charitable contributions or advise people where to go to make them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While Texas is at high tide, Trump's "empathy", as usual, is at low ebb. While never mentioning the fatalities of our fellow Americans, one of them being a police officer, while never mentioning Port Arthur being completely submerged, he <i>has</i> mentioned high ratings and tax cuts and David Clarke's book. And, as usual, Mexico's full of criminals and we need a wall to keep them out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Undeterred, Mexico has offered help. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/27/mexican-troops-saved-american-lives-after-katrina-would-trump-let-them-do-it-again/">They were there for us</a> in the aftermath of Katrina when the Mexican Army helped save lives in New Orleans. Despite what buffoon is currently occupying the Oval Office, Mexico has offered their help again. And Trump's pride and racism <a href="http://www.snopes.com/2017/08/29/u-s-has-yet-to-accept-mexican-offer-of-hurricane-harvey-aid/">will not let him accept that help</a> even as thousands are still in danger of drowning in unprecedented floods.</div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-42633332800397740032017-08-28T17:56:00.000-04:002017-08-28T18:04:48.492-04:00The Republican Creep Show<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q588zD3_4Rk/WaR7VWKsPRI/AAAAAAAAeIQ/Byyh3L14m6QP3ufG-9S07pSWBU92Nh8IACLcBGAs/s1600/Gorka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q588zD3_4Rk/WaR7VWKsPRI/AAAAAAAAeIQ/Byyh3L14m6QP3ufG-9S07pSWBU92Nh8IACLcBGAs/s400/Gorka.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Seriously, some of these guys give me the creeps.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What we need to do as a nation is to objectively look at some of the current and past clowns of the Trump administration. Because some of these guys are so evil, it radiates through their physiognomies to the point where you actually can judge a book by its cover.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Take ousted Deputy Assistant whateverthefuckhewas, Sebastian Gorka. Gorka always strikes me as looking like an Eastern European torture specialist getting a blow torch ready at a Russian garage in a Nicolas Cage movie and his statements match. Not only does he use a line from <i>Star Wars</i> (I guess he didn't stick around for the ending) to make some baleful statement, he threatens "the left" as if we're still a potent form of opposition that's bound to destroy whatever Death Star he's building in his Hungarian dungeon.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As proof that you can judge a book by its cover, when I made that joke about Gorka looking like an Eastern European torture specialist, this was before I found out that while he served in the British Army, he was in an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Gorka">interrogation unit</a>. Gorka is an unabashed alt-right operative (although we should call the alt-right what it is: Nazis and bigots), He also freely identifies with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Vit%C3%A9z">Order of Vitéz</a>, which was an honor given out to Hungarians who contributed to the Holocaust. As if this wasn't bad enough, he's also identified with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiziganism">anti Roma</a> as well as the anti-Semitic Hungarian Guard<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_G%C3%A1rda"> (both of which having been banned by the EU).</a><br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Not only have Gorka's academic credentials been called into question, so has his sanity. He's generally considered part of the right wing lunatic fringe. So how did this open racist and anti-Semite get himself a job with such immense power in the administration of a man with a Jewish son in law and a Jewish daughter? Well, these are the men with whom Trump likes to surround himself. They're not necessarily all Yes Men (Mattis, Tillerson and other Cabinet officials have openly disagreed with Trump as recently as this week).<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet they tend to be men we warn our children about when he tell them not to talk to strangers. Another case in point is Felix Sater.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LGhDkj0iqaE/WaSCBn0CC2I/AAAAAAAAeIg/3xxGJn2zO8k6ELZPFxIekw2QkvFCpGuogCLcBGAs/s1600/trump-sater.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="998" height="198" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LGhDkj0iqaE/WaSCBn0CC2I/AAAAAAAAeIg/3xxGJn2zO8k6ELZPFxIekw2QkvFCpGuogCLcBGAs/s400/trump-sater.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I like to call Sater "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Sater#Criminal_convictions_and_federal_cooperation">Mr. Stabby Face</a>" because he once stabbed a broker in the face with the jagged stem of a Margarita glass so many times it required 110 stitches to put his face back together again. What made him fly into such a rage? The fact that the commodities broker had the unfortunate task of informing Sater that he'd lost money.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Like Gorka a naturalized US citizen, when you hear people call Sater a Russian mobster, they're stating a matter of fact and not resorting to hyperbole. In 1998, the managing director of Bayrock was convicted of a "pump and dump" scheme that was orchestrated by the Russian mob. And it just came out today that Sater bragged in an email two years ago, <i>during the Trump campaign</i>, that getting a Trump Tower in Moscow "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-tower-putin-felix-sater.html">will get Trump elected.</a>"<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So much for Trump's <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/11/trump-denies-any-links-to-russia-no-loans-no-nothing.html">prior claim</a> that he had no loans, no deals, no nothing with Russia. There may not be a Trump Tower in Moscow but it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of a certain face-stabbing Russian mafioso making a bad attempt at legitimacy and respectability.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ig5Vr-CZvus/WaSJr5UZG_I/AAAAAAAAeIw/hT4AI1pBHPQarB1PliBvocPauodYzgMDwCLcBGAs/s1600/dead-eyed%2Bsociopath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1100" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ig5Vr-CZvus/WaSJr5UZG_I/AAAAAAAAeIw/hT4AI1pBHPQarB1PliBvocPauodYzgMDwCLcBGAs/s400/dead-eyed%2Bsociopath.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And then there's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Miller_(political_advisor)#Trump_administration">Stephen Miller</a>, one of the very few survivors of the original Trump administration. One of the three S's (Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka that, appropriately make a Sss sound when put together), Miller became a conservative after reading a book by NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre. Yes, that's all it took.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As a teenage right wing nut job (that must've embarrassed his liberal-leaning Jewish family), Miller would scream at Hispanic students to speak English. While at Duke, he helped spearhead a fundraising drive for a debate that would've involved Richard Spenser, the notorious neofascist and one of the chief architects of the Charlottesville riots. Despite spending a huge amount of time together at Duke, both Spenser and Miller now deny the extent of their once-close relationship and now in his spare time, Miller pretends to repudiate Spenser's alt-right activities.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The one-time Communications Director for noted racist Jeff Sessions eventually found himself at Trump's elbow. This dead-eyed sociopath would become one of the chief architects of the anti Muslim immigration EO that had been struck down by several federal judges. Miller infamously said the power of the president was "not to be questioned" and a few weeks ago had a shouting match with CNN's Jim Acosta over immigration and the Statue of Liberty.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uBuY1-nfpos/WaSLiHNFKRI/AAAAAAAAeI8/2qdiu55ame4G3ZCEJ6dPwp8brOqLmFRoQCLcBGAs/s1600/steve-bannon-cover-time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uBuY1-nfpos/WaSLiHNFKRI/AAAAAAAAeI8/2qdiu55ame4G3ZCEJ6dPwp8brOqLmFRoQCLcBGAs/s400/steve-bannon-cover-time.jpg" width="301" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The recently-departed Steve Bannon was another piece of work. The former and current again Breitbart CEO has long had ties to white nationalist movements. The only difference between Bannon and Gorka is that Gorka is still squirting sewage at "the left" from the fringes of right wing media while Bannon is squirting sewage at the Trump administration from the fringes of right wing media.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Like Gorka, however, Bannon's openly an anti-Semite, someone who once sparred with one of three ex-wives about putting their twin daughters to "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archer_School_for_Girls" title="The Archer School for Girls">The Archer School for Girls</a> because there were too many Jews at the school and Jews raise their children to be 'whiny brats'." He once bragged that Breitbart was the official "platform for the alt-right" that, again, was responsible for the mayhem in Charlottesville.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Bannon now lives out his days as an incidental useful idiot for the "vast left wing conspiracy" with which his old colleague Seb "Darth" Gorka is still obsessed.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We had and are still having a lot of fun with peckerheads like Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, Scaramucci (who only pretends to be what Sater actually is) and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. They're not the ones to worry about. With one exception (Mr. Stabby Face), all these people have worked for the Trump administration in several key capacities and they <i>are</i> the ones to worry about. You put these people together and look at their individual histories, it unerringly points to an administration that has literally openly embraced the alt-right and all the racists, anti-Semites, white nationalists and neo Nazis that come with them. Not only that but such a cast that looks like a lineup in a David Lynch movie proves that Trump loves to surround himself with some of the worst monsters walking the face of the earth.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And when we lower the bar and shift Overton's Window that much more to the right, that's what makes plausible Senate candidacies by Curt Schilling, Kid Rock and 85 year-old racist Joe Arpaio.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-33492302008845729962017-08-27T15:52:00.001-04:002017-08-27T15:57:50.494-04:00"They'll be safe. Good luck."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LXcbfNVyg7U/WaMc-qDGfKI/AAAAAAAAeIA/8-D000bAewYebhmOXnNR_9ryylRqdfxPACLcBGAs/s1600/nursing%2Bhome%2BHouston.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="596" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LXcbfNVyg7U/WaMc-qDGfKI/AAAAAAAAeIA/8-D000bAewYebhmOXnNR_9ryylRqdfxPACLcBGAs/s400/nursing%2Bhome%2BHouston.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Famous last words from the Slanderer in Chief as he scuttled off to Cape David for yet another mini vacation. The lead photo was taken this weekend in Houston and is going viral. This is a nursing home after the record flooding in the Lone Star state as Hurricane Harvey continues to rage across it. There are several reasons why Katrina is trending on Twitter and this, I suspect, is one of them. Remember hearing that horror story when Katrina hit Louisiana almost exactly 12 years ago, the one in which the staff had <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/07/us/nationalspecial/in-nursing-home-a-fight-lost-to-rising-waters.html">completely abandoned nursing home residents</a> (although the owners were <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20649744/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/katrina-nursing-home-owners-acquitted/">acquitted of any wrongdoing</a> a decade ago)? Apparently, we have learned nothing and have certainly not gotten better in the compassion department.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Where was the staff here? Why weren't the residents evacuated before the water got, literally, hip-deep? It's not as if experts didn't know that Houston and other parts of Texas would see record flooding unseen in 500 years. Well, except for this clown...<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">Wow - Now experts are calling <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Harvey?src=hash">#Harvey</a> a once in 500 year flood! We have an all out effort going, and going well!</div>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/901797906046439426">August 27, 2017</a></blockquote>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ...which was written right after he wrote this:<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">I will also be going to a wonderful state, Missouri, that I won by a lot in '16. Dem C.M. is opposed to big tax cuts. Republican will win S!</div>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/901795255086968833">August 27, 2017</a></blockquote>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Remember when Houston served as, well, a sanctuary city after Katrina struck? It's time to return the favor.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Remember when the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/08/27/mexican-troops-saved-american-lives-after-katrina-would-trump-let-them-do-it-again/">Mexican military offered assistance</a>, as had many other nations after Katrina and we shoved their offers back up their ass? If Mexico is magnanimous enough to offer aid again, we should take it. But you know Trump...<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By now, I'm sure you've already made note of all the aid agencies that are accepting donations (I wouldn't, however, recommend giving a penny to the Red Cross after their <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes">grand theft of a half a billion dollars</a> in donations after the Haiti earthquake), so I won't bother listing them unless asked to. But, despite the half-assed efforts of a few right wing politicians to secede Texas from the Union, they're still our American brothers and sisters and they desperately need our help.<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-76240578547594487152017-08-26T18:18:00.001-04:002017-08-26T18:18:31.986-04:00Why I Am No Longer a Democrat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RFIAtpG8BFQ/WaHYa0fT19I/AAAAAAAAeHw/HwiQT6RMWGIWkjKvlzFqOAdU65S1T5RlQCLcBGAs/s1600/RIP%2BDNC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="266" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RFIAtpG8BFQ/WaHYa0fT19I/AAAAAAAAeHw/HwiQT6RMWGIWkjKvlzFqOAdU65S1T5RlQCLcBGAs/s400/RIP%2BDNC.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Tip o' the tinfoil hat to constant reader CC)</div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The "Democratic" National Committee and the "Democratic" Party are now officially two conjoined rotting corpses. They are literally dead to me. As proof of this, when presented with a new voter registration form yesterday, I knew I didn't have to register again. Mine and Mrs. JP's voter registration status remain in effect in perpetuity until we move or other circumstances warrant a change. However, I filled it out and submitted it yesterday changing my party affiliation from Democrat to Independent (joining 53% of unenrolled Massachusetts voters.).<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And the reason I did this, which was long in the making and not one made lightly, coincided with the breaking but buried news that Judge William Zloch threw out the DNC fraud lawsuit, which effectively put the kibosh on the "Democratic" Party as a legitimate one. You can be forgiven if you'd never heard this late-breaking item from yesterday. With Hurricane Harvey beating the shit out of Texas, Trump pardoning fellow racist and felon Joe Arpaio and the Mayweather/McGregor fight, something like this would slip through the cracks.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yet the political and historical implications of this decision to effectively kill the "Democratic" Party, one fittingly made by a Republican appointee of Ronald Reagan, should not be underestimated. Because Zloch's decision (which can be <a href="http://jampac.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/62-D.E.-62-Ord-of-Dismissal-8-25-17.pdf">read in full here</a> [pdf]) to dismiss this case, thereby disallowing it to proceed to federal court, essentially shoves a glavius down the gullet of anyone who tries to pretend that the United States has a two party system of government.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yes, the world's oldest political party tried to reach its 200th birthday but didn't quite make it.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To be fair to Hillary Clinton, the entire fault for this cannot be placed like a flaming bag of dog shit on her doorstep in Chappaqua. However, the lion's share of the blame must rest on her shoulders. After all, it was under her guidance that the DNC and its massively corrupt and corruptible superdelegate system of stooges put identity politics above party integrity, the sole identity being earnestly touted, of course, Hillary Clinton's and no one else's.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; There were six counts listed against the DNC, The DNC Services Corp and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. There were as follows: <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Count 1, fraud by the DNC Donor Class and the Sanders Donor Class.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Count 2, negligent misrepresentation by the DNC Donor Class and the Sanders Donor Class.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Count 3, violation of Section 28-3904 of the District of Columbia code by the DNC Donor Class and the Sanders Donor Class.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Count 4, unjust enrichment by the DNC Donor Class.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Count 5, breach of fiduciary duty by the Democratic Party Class and<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Count 6, negligence by the DNC Donor Class.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The crux of the lawsuit filed in the Southern Florida District Court was that the "donor class" and "Sanders donor class" two of three identified, that pool of people stupid enough to actually give money to the crooks of the DNC, were hoodwinked out of their money when the DNC told them one thing ("Oh, sure, we'll be impartial, whatever that means") and did another ("LOL! You actually fell for that? Hell, yes, we supported Queen Hillary and you should've known that.").<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And that last sentence was actually the defense used by Bruce Spiva, the DNC's attorney. "You should've known we were in the tank for Hillary the whole time, we didn't make any serious claims to the contrary and, well, <i>caveat emptor</i>, motherfuckers."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In fact, this is what Spiva did, in fact, <a href="http://jampac.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/042517cw2.pdf">say in court</a> (pdf) July last year:<br /><blockquote>“But here, where you have a party that’s saying, We’re gonna, you know, choose our standard bearer, and we’re gonna follow these general rules of the road, which we are voluntarily deciding, we could have — and we could have voluntarily decided that, Look, we’re gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way. That’s not the way it was done. But they could have. And that would have also been their right.... [T]here is no right to — just by virtue of making a donation, to enforce the parties’ internal rules. And there’s no right to not have your candidate disadvantaged or have another candidate advantaged. There’s no contractual obligation here.”</blockquote>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Amazingly, despite that brazen of an admission of rampant political corruption and misrepresentation on the part of the "Democrats", it worked and Spiva and the rest of the defense team got their motion to dismiss. Because Spiva's sarcastically hypothetical situation, candidates being chosen over cigars in smoky back rooms, is <i>precisely</i> how Hillary Clinton got the nomination. By hook and lots and lots of crooks.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's hard if not impossible to understand why Zloch said and believed the things he did but one fact is clear: While the DNC and its officers and chosen candidate were engaging in a long-term, systemic campaign of corruption, obfuscation and gross misrepresentation of its avowed goals and policies (Which were rewritten after the disastrous 1968 Democratic convention), the defendants still did not violate federal law, thereby making the case ineligible to be heard and reviewed in federal court.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Whether or not that's true, that means the defense and their aggrieved clients have been effectively cheated out of several salient issues needing to be heard and spoken about more often without closet right wingers shouting them down and crying, "Fake news!"<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Among these issues are the extremely suspicious death of Seth Rich, who was almost certainly Julian Assange's source of information.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The obvious Russian hack of the DNC's servers as well as Clinton's unsecured servers and John Podesta's email account. This issue also keenly pertains to the identities and contact information of countless Democratic donors.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The disturbing relationship between Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her former IT guy, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/26/politics/imran-awan-house-democrats/index.html">Imran Awan</a>, the Pakistani who, along with his family and friends, would've sold state secrets (if he hadn't already) to anyone if the money was right.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It could have all come out and had been thoroughly unpacked and minutely, forensically examined for the first time, possibly leading to further lawsuits. Now, thanks to Judge Zloch, it will not.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That's why it's highly entertaining to see "Democratic" Party officials, machine "Democrats", who are publicly lauding the judge's decision. It's entertaining in a Schadenfreude way because allowing the lawsuit to continue is the one thing that would've offered the most hope that the DNC would eventually regain its true north. That the party apparatchiks who brought about this fraud and, like Tom Perez, the current DNC chair, to ensure such fraud and deception continues clear into next year's midterms and beyond would've been expelled like so many little wouldbe Boss Tweeds.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And I mention Boss Tweed for good reason. The biggest power broker in 19th century Tammany Hall had his downfall in 1871. However, that did not stop corruption from flourishing in Manhattan. Tammany Hall remained its epicenter. And, while the latter-day "Democratic" Party is just a high tech version of Tammany Hall (Oh, let's just call it what it is: Tammany Hall 2.0), putting the kibosh on all its operatives, from Hillary Clinton on down, would've gone a long way toward putting oil on the waters among disenfranchised Democratic voters and donors.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But these "Democratic" scumbags are high-fiving each other because they know Zloch granting the DNC's shysters their motion to dismiss means business will go on as usual. It may not even result in an immediate drastic change in the DNC's balance sheets since social media tells me there are still plenty of fucking idiots out there who still insist there's a world of difference between the DNC and the RNC, between the Republican Party and the "Democratic" Party...<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ...despite the fact they both show contempt for their own voter base, will illegally kneecap one candidate in favor of a good ole boy (or girl), that they will skew primaries and entire elections and that they all work for the same Wall Street banks and corporations.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But if history teaches anything, evil will eventually be caught by the consequences of its actions, that it is all-consuming. We do not have a two party system of representative government. We don't even have one. They're both, as Michael Collins puts it, "the Money Party", with just one wing of that party being more extreme than the other. And both wings belong not to an eagle but a tattered vulture, sick of its own sin but addicted to it.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-45641704447121594532017-08-23T17:59:00.000-04:002017-08-23T18:19:15.786-04:00The Night the Lights Died in Phoenix<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u-7P7ElSa5c/WZ3pDh4fI3I/AAAAAAAAeHg/ZXnMI3MUu04hdU71V3BOp8-vi1N0WcWtACLcBGAs/s1600/phoenix%2Blights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="540" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-u-7P7ElSa5c/WZ3pDh4fI3I/AAAAAAAAeHg/ZXnMI3MUu04hdU71V3BOp8-vi1N0WcWtACLcBGAs/s400/phoenix%2Blights.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(By <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4076183"><i>American Zen</i></a>'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>T</b></span>o anyone in Phoenix, Arizona on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights">Thursday, March 13, 1997</a>, it was a night they'd never forget. Because 20 years ago on that early spring evening, tens of thousands of Arizonans witnessed the closest that a superior extraterrestrial civilization came to introducing itself to our poor species. It was even seen by the Governor at the time (who later made the tremendous error of dressing up his chief of staff in an alien costume in an attempt to ridicule what he and countless tens of thousands had witnessed and documented).</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To the more open-minded of us, perhaps many in Arizona that night hoped and prayed the aliens would finally descend and show themselves, to perhaps guide us to a better way of governance or perhaps even to transcend the need for governance. Perhaps many of us had wished that they would touch down and, having had enough of our clownish and destructive stewardship of this unique planet, would finally set us straight.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alas, the giant boomerang-shaped ship which shape was defined by its unforgettable lights merely scanned Phoenix below then slowly drifted off, never to be seen again. And last night in that great southwestern city, the lights figuratively died again when <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/23/as-trump-ranted-and-rambled-in-phoenix-his-crowd-slowly-thinned/">Donald Trump came to town</a> to hold yet another fucking sloppy, rambling hate rally.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To be fair to the presumptive President, it <i>has</i> been a rough summer. The health care repeal failed. He's under a very serious DOJ probe. Many top aides have either quit or had been fired by him or others. The more sympathetic of us might even say the Commander in Thief needed to have his spirits lifted and ego inflated with a few hundred fellow right wing nut bags, that <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/17/trump-support-poll/">25% who recently said</a> nothing Trump could say or do would make their support for him waver.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Obviously, among those things were siding with neonazis and confederates, something no real President has ever publicly done, trying to steal health care from 22,000,000 Americans, firing the very people who could have functioned as a check and balance, some voice of reason on this rolling Dumpster fire of an administration.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He teased the crowd with a pardon of infamously racist Sheriff Joe who violated a court order and was recently convicted for it, bemoaned the fate of "poor Jeffery Lord" who was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cnn-severs-ties-with-pundit-jeffrey-lord-over-his-use-of-nazi-phrase-on-twitter/2017/08/10/30aaf9f0-7e0f-11e7-a669-b400c5c7e1cc_story.html?utm_term=.9dd8662fb0d5">fired by CNN</a> for giving the Nazi salute on Twitter. He praised so-called clean coal and in between jeremiads took long looks to stage left and right, soaking up the usual idiotic, unconditional adoration. But I'm putting the jackass before the cart. Let's look at how it played out in chronological order.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The 75 Minutes Hate</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TjlTKoSn93g/WZ3opBUffLI/AAAAAAAAeHc/6jPsRJJqiZUySn5_1LYoBvf3INydC--LwCEwYBhgL/s1600/nuremberg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="369" height="396" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TjlTKoSn93g/WZ3opBUffLI/AAAAAAAAeHc/6jPsRJJqiZUySn5_1LYoBvf3INydC--LwCEwYBhgL/s400/nuremberg.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span></b>t had all started out as well-meaning and well-choreographed, with four people taking to the podium to build a beautiful sand castle of all inclusion, telling those in attendance and all following on social media to not give in to the demons of hate. Even hate peddler Franklin Graham, son of anti Semite Billy Graham, even Franklin fucking Graham of all people joined in the construction of this wonderful sand castle in the sky.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And then the world's oldest toddler <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/23/as-trump-ranted-and-rambled-in-phoenix-his-crowd-slowly-thinned/">took the podium</a> and kicked it back into loose sand in three minutes flat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Yet long before Trump shambled and ambled in his usually sloppy, disjointed way to his peroration, people had already begun to leave or to tune out. Security cruelly had confiscated the water bottles of those who'd waited for hours in 107 degree heat. Trump railed for about 25 minutes on the "fake news" media, pulling his own quotes out of his pocket. He took pot shots at both of Arizona's senators without mentioning them by name (and patting himself on the back for acting "very presidential.").</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He took pot shots at the Republican party in general, at those who criticized him for his statements on Charlottesville (bragging that he lived in a better penthouse than many who call themselves elitists) and claimed that he took shots at the KKK, the white supremacists and other right wing factions whose faux outrage over Robert E. Lee's statue getting taken down by court order resulted in the death of a woman Trump <i>still </i>hasn't acknowledged. Forgotten was his taking it all back at Trump Tower the very next day in a combative exchange with the media.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lastly, he finally mentioned the antifa faction by name in much more withering terms than he'd ever mentioned the Klan, white supremacists or the neo Nazis. Few showed up for Trump's rally. There were much fewer there before he finally ran out of hot air that he already added to the stifling Arizona night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And that was because they'd heard it all before. Only the topical subjects of Charlottesville and his hideously bad response to it differentiated it from the countless hate rallies he'd held across the country while on the campaign trail. They'd heard it all before and quickly grew bored with the boilerplate, the self congratulations, the constant egoistic masturbation. And even the idiots who'd waited hours in nearly 110 degree heat to hear Idiot Zero speak eventually came to the conclusion that far from being a rally to prop up Trump's popularity, it was merely another exercise in making himself look good by tearing down others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Then, just when it couldn't have looked any worse for Trump, he called his new Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly, to the stage. <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/john-kelly-nowhere-to-be-found-when-trump-beckons-in-phoenix-so-twitter-fills-in-the-blanks/article/2632311">But Kelly wasn't there</a>. No doubt, after the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/photo-of-john-kelly-during-trumps-wild-press-conference-says-it-all-2017-8">debacle at Trump Tower</a>, he knew what to expect. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Donald J. Trump is a tired old comedian who many had taken way too seriously, a washed up, worn out comic who's too stubborn to get new material or use new props for his threadbare schtick. And America is slowly coming to the conclusion they've been conned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Aliens, if you're listening: We need an abduction to take place immediately and you can do with him what you wish (including anal probes). And when you pluck this miscreant from the earth, you can keep what's left over and jettison it into the sun.</div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-38961259370902355922017-08-22T17:19:00.002-04:002017-08-23T13:56:20.453-04:00Swamped<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ivy37kXBVmc/WZyW_bPC-rI/AAAAAAAAeG4/a25SDWTwj3sXUVfzaNJUfhI0E9mPk4sawCLcBGAs/s1600/Bannon%2Bbullshit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="717" height="308" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ivy37kXBVmc/WZyW_bPC-rI/AAAAAAAAeG4/a25SDWTwj3sXUVfzaNJUfhI0E9mPk4sawCLcBGAs/s400/Bannon%2Bbullshit.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Boy, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/22/with-bannon-back-in-charge-breitbart-is-crushing-trump-for-his-afghanistan-speech/"><i>that</i></a> was fast.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; As I predicted in Sunday's post, Steve Bannon wasted no time ripping Donald Trump a new one for his speech on Afghanistan and not altogether without good reasons. In fact, Breitbart.com posted five furious articles in rapid succession criticizing Trump on his new Wag-the-Dog Afghanistan policy (Or, as Mrs. JP says at least once a day, "What part of 'graveyard of empires' does he not understand?").<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Predictably, Bannon was allowed to slither out of the undrained swamp of Washington DC and into his old chair at Breitbart and, even more predictably, to fire several salvos at Trump. It only remains to be seen how long it'll take for Trump to denounce the once staunchly pro-Trump Breitbart as "fake news" and label Bannon as the stereotypical "disgruntled employee."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We all know the impetus behind this about-face: Bannon will always have a mad on about being ousted from a position of immense power after what he no doubt considers a year of faithful service to Trump as his campaign CEO then his Chief Strategist. But, really, at this point who cares? It's always vicariously entertaining seeing Republicans eating their own even if it comes at the expense of the Republic.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump is essentially about to make the same exact mistakes Bush did when he'd unofficially declared war on Afghanistan and Obama during his own troop "surge." Trump said he wasn't going to talk about troop levels, which should strike a warning note for anyone with a child in the armed forces. In fact, Trump is so ignorant about Afghanistan that he thinks they have a Prime Minister (Ashraf Ghani is Afghanistan's President).<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the interests of full disclosure, it ought to be said that Bannon united with Trump in pulling out US service members out of the 16 year-old war zone (although Bannon wanted to replace them with mercs, which worked out <i>so</i> well in Iraq). And it's odd that the same generals whom Trump had dismissed as ignorant during briefings with them while he was still President-elect were the same ones who had talked him into continuing this quagmire.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump's speech in Virginia last night was notable for its lack of details and tone deafness in the face of a United States that's not only tired of war with Afghanistan but is hardly aware we still have a significant presence there. Prior to Obama, we steadily had 4500 troops there then Obama raised that to 8400 during his surge. Last June, Trump had already ordered the Pentagon to make plans to send another 4000 to Afghanistan (an order belayed by Defense Secretary Mattis until Trump would articulate an actual mission, which he hadn't done as of last night), raising the total deployment to 12,400.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It's hard to see how we're going to take back a country in which every invading and occupying force had failed from Alexander the Great to the Soviet Union, especially when under Bush then Obama the Taliban began taking back key cities and provinces.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also not mentioned by Trump were the <i>real</i> reasons for our continued squattage in Afghanistan: Hundreds of billions of barrels of untapped oil, roughly a trillion dollars worth of undeveloped minerals and the poppy fields that are so necessary to the CIA to fund their endless incursions. Trump's right about one thing: It isn't about nation-building. Never was, isn't now, never will be. Every invading force leaves behind a kingdom of rubble in a nation that infamously refuses to be conquered.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; And good luck trying to get India and especially Pakistan on board. Trump tried putting the arm on them last night just as he had earlier this year during the G20 when he accused our NATO allies of not kicking in their fair share (several world leaders were openly snickering at him during his speech in Brussels).<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; So as long as Bannon wants to play the part of useful idiot, I say we let him and enjoy the fireworks.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-meeBu58IqEA/WZyeGvJcSlI/AAAAAAAAeHI/XwQb-qKgGZQ4e1tOyG_4_XbwWDWbpfpoQCLcBGAs/s1600/ft%2Bbragg%2Beclipse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1200" height="308" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-meeBu58IqEA/WZyeGvJcSlI/AAAAAAAAeHI/XwQb-qKgGZQ4e1tOyG_4_XbwWDWbpfpoQCLcBGAs/s400/ft%2Bbragg%2Beclipse.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By coincidence, this is the picture taken yesterday by the 82nd Airborne out of Ft Bragg NC. They scheduled a jump exercise during the moment of the eclipse so they could take this shot. After Trump's speech later that night vowing unprecedented victory in Afghanistan, Americans can be forgiven if that photo brought to mind this much more famous one:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ykcoOBxjxL0/WZyeb2CboJI/AAAAAAAAeHM/bkX3T3rfB0gOG4N6LvSu1di2YSq2njm9gCLcBGAs/s1600/apocalypse%2Bnow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="224" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ykcoOBxjxL0/WZyeb2CboJI/AAAAAAAAeHM/bkX3T3rfB0gOG4N6LvSu1di2YSq2njm9gCLcBGAs/s400/apocalypse%2Bnow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div id="ext_searchPromptBtn" style="left: 141px; top: 316px; z-index: auto;" textsel="yester"></div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-394950157143874402017-08-20T18:55:00.000-04:002017-08-23T19:28:26.019-04:00The Future's So Not Breitbart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldRj027Hoz4/WZoGjR5CbPI/AAAAAAAAeGo/6xqWq2ws_d82jWaVGg3SP7J5wCXhxykbgCLcBGAs/s1600/bannon-blood.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="515" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldRj027Hoz4/WZoGjR5CbPI/AAAAAAAAeGo/6xqWq2ws_d82jWaVGg3SP7J5wCXhxykbgCLcBGAs/s400/bannon-blood.JPG" width="395" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Image courtesy of <i>The Onion</i>)</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Perhaps it's a bit premature to piss on Breitbart.com's grave but we can certainly be forgiven for being tempted to make its funeral arrangements.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Let's take stock: Last February, its star reporter Milo was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/milo-yiannopoulos-resigns-from-breitbart-news/2017/02/21/0217c128-f7cc-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html">forced out</a> just after <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/21/milo-yiannopoulos-book-deal-cancelled-outrage-child-abuse-comments">he diddled into oblivion</a> a $250,000 publishing deal with Simon &amp; Schuster's right wing imprint, <a href="http://www.thresholdeditions.com/">Threshold</a>. Before that, the "news" organization took a hit after it had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/21/milo-yiannopoulos-book-deal-cancelled-outrage-child-abuse-comments">failed to defend</a> one of its female reporters after she was assaulted by top Trump aide Cory Lewandowski. Then Steven Bannon, to no one's surprise, got sucked into Trump's seductive orbit and rode his over-sized tie all the way to the White House.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Since then, the plummet in Breitbart's fortunes seem to coincide with that of Trump (He of the 35% approval rating) and that's no coincidence. Along with son in law Jared Kushner's <i>Observer</i>, Breitbart's alt-right (read: White nationalist) outlook was always slanted in favor of Trump.The two are virtually inseparable and while Trump has done far more to damage the site's brand name than Breitbart has done to Trump's still-lucrative brand, their fates still seem to be inextricably entwined in a slow motion death spiral one can but helplessly watch.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Since Bannon waddled to the White House, they'd <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/06/08/breitbart-lost-90-percent-of-its-advertisers-in-two-months-whos-still-there/?utm_term=.018218845355">lost 90%</a>, or 2300 of their sponsors (Don't worry, they still have <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/features/2017/07/12/25281019/bezos-wont-quit-breitbart">Jazzy Jeff</a>). The only reason they haven't dried up and blown away is because they still have the deep pockets of right wing hedge fund manager Robert Mercer.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And then, the day before he himself was axed in this super-sized edition of <i>The Apprentice</i>, Bannon took a page from the Mooch and called up <a href="http://prospect.org/article/steve-bannon-unrepentant"><i>The American Prospect</i></a>, to bloviate on all matters sundry. In the "accidental" on-the-record interview, an upbeat Bannon bragged about who he was going to fire at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon. He was essentially a coked-up version of Karl Rove, sans filter.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He called for trade sanction against China, perhaps forgetting, or not caring, that the Trump <s>administration</s> Organization is doing brisk business with the world's last Communist superpower, especially in the area of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/china-donald-trump-branded-without-us-congress-permission-trademarks-spas-escort-services-hotels-and-a7619136.html">Trump-branded massage parlors and prostitution services</a>. Bannon also struck an ominous note when he said his "hands were back on (his) weapons" and more than hinted he was, as he always had been, gunning after the GOP establishment.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This can't be bad news for progressives and Republicans are shitting their pants that Bannon's planning on dismantling the party from the swamp on up. How much credibility Bannon still has after his site's plummeting fortunes and his own fall from grace remains to be seen but for now, he's looked upon by the left as a useful idiot.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But a lot of people still listen to him, primarily the white nationalists he's enabled and glorified in the racist pages of Breitbart. And establishment Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, men who don't scare easily, are soiling their pants over what Bannon can still do to the Trump administration to which, as with Breitbart, they'd ill-advisedly had hitched their wagon.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While it's too early to predict the demise of Breitbart, the now-defunct neo Nazi site Daily Stormer that had been hacked by Anonymous and <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daily-stormer-being-dumped-by-godaddy-apparently-seized-by-anonymous/">killed off for good</a> by its host GoDaddy after the disaster in Charlottesville can be seen as a bellwether. America has had it up to the stratosphere with the noxious racism and bigotry represented by Breitbart. Their best days are behind them. Now it only remains if Breitbart will hire Bannon back to dismantle the hideous machine they'd painstakingly built up, the smoking, clanging machine of the Trump administration.</div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-83697494939745578032017-08-19T21:32:00.001-04:002017-08-19T21:32:06.300-04:00Banned in Boston<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UXWfcy1dbp0/WZjVZEAqkUI/AAAAAAAAeGU/_qJqrvn2ck4E8uKR_s8JC2nB3gcbgGP7QCLcBGAs/s1600/abolition%2Bposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="475" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UXWfcy1dbp0/WZjVZEAqkUI/AAAAAAAAeGU/_qJqrvn2ck4E8uKR_s8JC2nB3gcbgGP7QCLcBGAs/s400/abolition%2Bposter.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm not going to lie to you. Boston is one of the most racist cities in the northeast. African American ball players have it written into their contracts that they <i>not</i> be traded to the Red Sox (the last team to integrate, in 1959, one year <i>after</i> the Boston Bruins). Both the North Ends (Italian) and Southie (Irish) are infamously racist and I defy you to take a stroll through downtown Roslindale and report back to me if you find even one African American. If you don't believe me, check out the Rants and Raves section on Boston Craigslist.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was in the early 70's, well within my lifetime, when the Boston busing riots roiled our capital city. When my Dad was stationed in San Vito, Italy in 1970-2, <i>Stars and Stripes</i> ran stories about those riots that had been sparked by Judge Garrity's decision to integrate school busing. It wasn't exactly our finest hour. "Banned in Boston" became almost a punchline because the city's intolerance to so many things gave it a national reputation for being intolerant bigots.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; However, while doing research two years ago for my latest novel, <a href="https://www.createspace.com/5920087"><i>Gods of Our Fathers</i></a>, I saw a different side to Boston, the side that endures and outlives fashionable and stubborn biases and prejudices. It's the side that opposed the British during the Revolutionary War, the side that, in Boston, always seems to side with liberty.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Because in the course of my research into the history of the Boston Police Department, I couldn't help but learn about Anthony Burns.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And that's because Burns, a 19 year-old escaped slave from Virginia, was arrested on Court Street on May 24th, 1854. This was a day or two before the Boston City Council unified the day and night watches of the Boston constabulary, creating, for the first time, a unified, professional police force in the city's history. As these two events came within 24-48 hours of each other, one cannot learn of one without learning of the other.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To the new Mayor, the new police and to President Franklin Pierce, the vitriolic reaction to Burns's incarceration and upcoming trial was shocking and surprising. Barnburner abolitionists (radicals such as John Brown) fought with the Nativist No Nothings and even the conciliatory "hunkers" (moderate abolitionists) openly warred with each other, resulting in acts of arson and other mayhem. 24 years before <i>Posse Comitatus</i>, Pierce sent 2000 federal troops into the streets of Boston to keep the peace. For the most part, it didn't work.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Part of the reason was because the New England <span class="st" data-hveid="87" data-ved="0ahUKEwj-_7HzyeTVAhUO0IMKHa8PB6cQ4EUIVzAJ">Transcendentali</span>sts got in on the act, publishing broadsides by Thoreau and others from the streets of Concord. Local religious leaders, such as <span class="st">Thomas Wentworth Higginson, reinforced the church's reputation of being a hotbed of abolitionist activity by delivering fiery antislavery sermons from his pulpit.</span><br /><span class="st">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The kangaroo court delivered its inevitable verdict: Anthony Burns was found guilty of violating the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and remanded back into the custody of his slave owner. The federal government, desperate to make an example of Burns, ordered all 2000 troops and even mercenaries known as "black legs" as well as all 253 members of Boston's police department to escort Burns to the ship that would ferry him to the other ship that would take him back to Virginia. (In today's dollars, this had cost the city, state and federal government the equivalent of just over one million dollars.)</span><br /><span class="st">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Forming a gauntlet down State Street, where the old Custom House still sits to this day, were thousands more Bostonians of every color, race and religion, condemning the violation of Boston's sovereignty and to Burns' freedom. We'll never know how many civilians were killed but we do know that one US Marshall was killed when a group of protesters used a wooden cross from the Tremont Street AME church and used it to batter the door of the judicial building on Court Sq (around the corner from where Burns was arrested), where Burns was incarceratedm after one of those fiery sermons by its African American pastor. The daughter of the recently resigned Mayor of Boston, Mary Elizabeth Seaver, wrote to her father on June 4, 1854, “In the center of a hollow square formed of volunteers… walked the slave, a good looking fellow. Each of these men had a drawn sword or knife. Several companies of soldiers marched before and behind, and the Artillery had a six pound cannon all loaded…”</span><br /><span class="st">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was the Boston PD's baptism literally by fire. While it hasn't officially been christened as such, it could be said the capture and trial of Anthony Burns was one of the three seminal events that hastened the Civil War, the other two being the Dred Scott decision three years later and, two years after that, John Brown's failed but ultimately catalytic capture of Harper's Ferry.</span><br /><span class="st">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So, in our bifurcated city, we stand for universal freedom while standing against diversity. In 1854, we had found ourselves on the side of the angels, soiled as they may have been with blood, smoke and soot. And again, we found ourselves on the same side.</span><br /><span class="st">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Because, hoping for another "successful" march in our fair city, the KKK came to town and was essentially banned in Boston. As they were in 1854, the Boston Police found themselves pressed into service for the wrong side of history. But eyewitness accounts <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212265990199114&amp;set=a.10204885772938295.1073741828.1658990362&amp;type=3&amp;theater">such as this one</a> tell the tale:</span><br /><blockquote>Well that was a big bore, thank god. Got to the rally on the Common around noon. There was a 2-300 feet security perimeter around the Parkman bandstand, empty b<span class="text_exposed_show">ut for lawn and police. A few dozen Nazis were milling aimlessly around the bandstand. Couldn't hear a thing and there was no sign of a sound system or anyone making speeches. They were surrounded by maybe 100,000 protesters on all sides, a sea of people as far as I could see. The crowd was chanting "Can't hear you. Can't hear you." and "Black Lives Matter." </span></blockquote><blockquote> <div class="text_exposed_show">About 1:00, the Nazis were goose stepped by riot police to the park headquarters on Boylston Street, milled around some more and piled into four Black Marias. I was standing by the fence along the burying ground taking pictures, shooting through the headstones.</div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="text_exposed_show">I went around to the driveway gate on Boylston Street and the paddy wagons were obviously pinned in by the crowds, chanting "Let them walk! Let them walk!" If they had they would have been torn apart. In the end, all they got thrown at them was flowers and "No Nazis!"</div></blockquote><blockquote><div class="text_exposed_show">Good work Boston!</div></blockquote>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Plainly lacking the numbers they'd enjoyed in Charlottesville a week ago, the KKK, neo Nazis and "alt-right" white nationalists suffered a crushing and humiliating defeat in the same city that nearly freed Anthony Burns and resisted the British after sparking the Revolutionary War. It was a disappointing reprise of the violent fascist rally that put nearly three dozen people in the hospital and one in her grave.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And today, the angels showed up for work and made sure the good guys won. That would be the angels of inclusion, those immortal agents of grace that had stiffened the spine of every abolitionist in Boston 163 years ago this summer. The good guys won today and sent the assholes packing for the next city in their sad, psychological traveling side show. Those angels may have technically lost in 1854 but their voices and actions were heard today's resounding victory for love and all-inclusion.<br /><span class="st"></span>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-28236599523618271122017-08-18T12:09:00.001-04:002017-08-18T12:09:04.393-04:00From Der Fewer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gpuh60p98Zg/WZcOoYpwCaI/AAAAAAAAeF0/LMYIbMWo7bAqMJHczPBfavlUDRPx9rh-ACLcBGAs/s1600/trump-tweet-8-18-17.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="612" height="233" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gpuh60p98Zg/WZcOoYpwCaI/AAAAAAAAeF0/LMYIbMWo7bAqMJHczPBfavlUDRPx9rh-ACLcBGAs/s400/trump-tweet-8-18-17.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ReSpK6Ecl3o/WZcO1Yx9_jI/AAAAAAAAeF4/G6fDuU02neoHxpxB_N2aUkHTajzXbPJYgCLcBGAs/s1600/trump%2B%2Btweet%2B8-18-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="634" height="216" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ReSpK6Ecl3o/WZcO1Yx9_jI/AAAAAAAAeF4/G6fDuU02neoHxpxB_N2aUkHTajzXbPJYgCLcBGAs/s400/trump%2B%2Btweet%2B8-18-17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_ZZjnHHbq4/WZcQYSEgTfI/AAAAAAAAeGE/JzNuHHcqZswVc924zPoz_m0s9fihjEQQgCLcBGAs/s1600/trump-tweet-8-14-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="638" height="197" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_ZZjnHHbq4/WZcQYSEgTfI/AAAAAAAAeGE/JzNuHHcqZswVc924zPoz_m0s9fihjEQQgCLcBGAs/s400/trump-tweet-8-14-17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span id="goog_1320712191"></span><span id="goog_1320712192"></span><br />jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-22415008828829171732017-08-16T12:44:00.001-04:002017-08-16T12:46:55.761-04:00No Wiggle Room<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsve1t2bg4c/WZR2W2NeMqI/AAAAAAAAeFU/LOqabkeY0g0i55_n-WYb9849LDIJnd02wCLcBGAs/s1600/trump-nazi%2Bsalute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="224" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fsve1t2bg4c/WZR2W2NeMqI/AAAAAAAAeFU/LOqabkeY0g0i55_n-WYb9849LDIJnd02wCLcBGAs/s400/trump-nazi%2Bsalute.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The minute we begin <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/16/543914974/what-theyre-saying-newspapers-weigh-in-on-trumps-both-sides-stance?utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=politics&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_term=nprnews">to debate the legitimacy</a> of Trump's bottomlessly despicable comments yesterday is the minute we've already lost the debate. Whatever your political stripe or ideology, one fact is abundantly, inescapably clear: Donald Trump is the first "president" ever to support Nazis and white supremacists and the very fact that opposition and criticism of that infuriates and baffles him just confirms what is already self-evident. That's all I have to say about that.<br /><div id="ext_searchPromptBtn" style="left: 286px; top: 272px; z-index: auto;" textsel="anger"></div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-45824870241243984902017-08-13T16:40:00.002-04:002017-08-17T13:17:09.647-04:00Shoeless Jim Crow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cKwP4V6n_QI/WZCmcBylOvI/AAAAAAAAeE8/t4xjYREQt98b1Mhu4n3JJa2UochCSwKZgCLcBGAs/s1600/heather%2Bheyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="782" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cKwP4V6n_QI/WZCmcBylOvI/AAAAAAAAeE8/t4xjYREQt98b1Mhu4n3JJa2UochCSwKZgCLcBGAs/s400/heather%2Bheyer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">(By <a href="https://www.createspace.com/4076183"><i>American Zen</i></a>'s Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)</div>"<i>We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides. It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time.</i>" -"President" Donald Trump, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/politics/trump-charlottesville-statement/index.html">8/12/17</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I</b></span>n the age of terrorism, every US President must anticipate, and meet, practically as a rite of passage a crucible to test their leadership skills: An act of domestic terrorism. Bill Clinton had his very early in his presidency with the first World Trade Center bombing. George W. Bush had his on 9/11/01. Barack Obama was, strangely, almost immune to major domestic acts of terror except if you include the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and the San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 (The consensus among the reality-based community is that the Pulse Nightclub shooting, while it may've been carried out by a Muslim male, was more about self-loathing homophobia than Islamic terrorism).</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Yesterday, Donald Trump had his own domestic terror test that left a lovely 32 year-old woman dead. The overall grade, even from his fellow Republicans? F-.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From his own golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump eventually pulled off his golf duds, shrugged into his Rodney Dangerfield costume and awkwardly read from a prepared statement that initially appeared to condemn the acts of white nationalist terrorism. Then Trump, lacking the concentration of even a goldfish, looked up and obviously went off script as he's wont to do and said directly into the cameras, "...on many sides." Then he immediately doubled down by repeating, "On many sides."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; To anyone whose brain can generate enough electricity to move a single finger over a keyboard, Trump stopped being the President in the minds of even his own party. As <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lupica-real-terrorism-gun-san-bernardino-classroom-article-1.3062572">Mike Lupica</a> pointed out last April, Trump is quick to tweet about terrorism and its preemptive usual suspects (Read: Muslims) in the abstract but not in the particular when it actually happens. That especially applies to acts of domestic terror carried out by white Christian males, such as the second San Bernardino shooting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump's wide brush response was immediately regarded as unsatisfactory at best, craven at worst, drawing the ire from even <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/rift-between-republicans-and-trump-widens-after-his-charlottesville-reaction/article/2631379">Republican members of Congress</a>. It was a reprise of that telling moment when Trump had his feet put to the fire on live national TV and asked if he would repudiate the endorsement of the KKK. He pretended as if he didn't know about them or had even heard of them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In fact, this is what the man who's infamously hypersensitive and hypervigilant about anyone who's ever mentioned his name had said that fateful night in <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/28/468455028/trump-wont-condemn-kkk-says-he-knows-nothing-about-white-supremacists">late February last year</a>: "I don't know anything about David Dukes. I don't know what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacist. I don't know. I don't know, did he endorse me, or what's going on?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Purely in the interests of jogging 45's memory, a bizarrely rubbery-faced David Dukes essentially had this to say to Trump on Twitter and <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/video/david-duke-says-he-was-at-charlottesville-rally-to-fulfill-promise-of-trump-1023420483642">NBC News</a>: "Don't forget who put you in the White House, asshole. We did this for you because you wanted us to." That included one of his sympathizers, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/james-alex-fields-charlottesville-driver-.html">James Alex Fields Jr</a>, who did his part by plowing his car at 40 mph into a group of peaceful counter protesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Those Empty Shoes</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IIBabpqk2qU/WZCnTjDaHwI/AAAAAAAAeFE/GVJzJHbuJeIxKaNSJhdurZLWOvGDIqD1QCLcBGAs/s1600/charlottesville%2Bcrash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="635" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IIBabpqk2qU/WZCnTjDaHwI/AAAAAAAAeFE/GVJzJHbuJeIxKaNSJhdurZLWOvGDIqD1QCLcBGAs/s400/charlottesville%2Bcrash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When one looks at the photograph above, one of several taken by eyewitnesses to Fields' act of terror, one is struck by the empty shoes that had until a moment before been occupied by human feet. It's also symbolic of the empty shoes vacated by President Barack Obama on January 20th that Trump hasn't even begun to fill.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When Benghazi occurred on September 11, 2012, Republicans, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/romney-repeats-sharp-criticism-of-obama-on-libya-egypt-attacks/2012/09/12/31074af4-fcdf-11e1-b153-218509a954e1_story.html">starting with Mitt Romney</a>, were quick to take to podiums and blast the President for the language he used in condemning the terror attack at our embassy in Libya. Of course, the President's response was swift, heartfelt and well-articulated but the obstructionists on the other side of the aisle heard one thing while mainstream America heard what was actually said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While Republicans may be raising whispers and tweets criticizing Trump, the backlash isn't nearly as fierce as endured (with grace) by President Obama after Benghazi. In fact, Republicans, starting with Romney in his little moment in the sun next to a strip mall pet store named "Blazin' Reptiles", essentially accused Obama of siding with the Muslim terrorists who killed four of our people in Benghazi. Romney was immediately shot down not only by liberals and progressives but by his own party. But the mainstream GOP response persisted at 300 decibels: President Obama was siding with the terrorists by not calling them out. Which was false, of course.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But this is essentially what Trump actually is guilty of- Trump blamed "many sides" for the violence (while not once mentioning the fatality that already happened) in an amazingly brazen, boneheaded and dangerous manner on everyone who was at Charlottesville this weekend. Trump might as well have said, "You all have Heather Heyer's blood on your hands."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That's dangerous: Right wingers automatically looking for phantom progressive suspects with the industry of Chris Kobach will take Trump's words at face value and seek out revenge among those they think are the most guilty- The counter protesters, the antifa crowd. Their most vocal critics.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And considering David Dukes's risible condemnation of Trump when he didn't even single out the white nationalists, the KKK and the neoNazis in attendance, Trump might as well have done the right thing whether or not his heart was in it, to at least give the momentary appearance of leadership in condemning the right wingers in Charlottesville. But he didn't because he couldn't being himself to condemn his own base any more than he can condemn the guy who <i>really </i>put him in the White House: Vladimir Putin.</div>jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-7101561217284075152017-08-12T20:34:00.001-04:002017-08-12T21:26:01.030-04:00"Many sides."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qz92ENXdq7M/WY-VWV4fHhI/AAAAAAAAeEs/RopW-fX9Xs0W2AmRZvZQbaEuMNOFV_2HACLcBGAs/s1600/KKK%2Bin%2BVA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1200" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qz92ENXdq7M/WY-VWV4fHhI/AAAAAAAAeEs/RopW-fX9Xs0W2AmRZvZQbaEuMNOFV_2HACLcBGAs/s400/KKK%2Bin%2BVA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By now, you must know that starting last night, neo Nazi white nationalist Richard Spenser led a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia that was hilariously dubbed "Unite the Right." That is, it <i>was</i> hilarious until some asshole <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-white-nationalists-rally/index.html">plowed his car</a> into a crowd of counter protesters, killing one and injuring at least 19.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This resulted in the usual failure of leadership. Gov. Terry McAuliffe told them, "Shame on you, Go home." (Maybe he'll ground the white nationalists for the rest of the weekend.) "President" Donald Trump blamed "<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-charlottesville-violence-20170812-story.html">many sides</a>" for the violence, trying as always not to alienate his white supremacist, neo Nazi base.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And, proving they're just as completely worthless as our elected officials, the MSM still refuse to call this an act of terrorism. You see, when an ISIS terrorist plows a vehicle into a crowd of innocent bystanders, it's an act of terror. When a white American plows a vehicle into a crowd of innocent bystanders, it's "hit and run." Because, as we all know, the nation that invaded and occupied places like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan isn't capable of acts of terror. That would be beneath us.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But Trump's despicable comments, made after that crowd was plowed into, after that person died, after such time when Trump <i>must've</i> known about the murder, was just that- A despicable act of cowardice, a refusal to rile the base of support that helped get him into the White House, a disgusting attempt to play Other Siderism.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; And the Germanic strongman running the world's newest emerging fascist state is playing the same game he was playing on the campaign trail almost exactly two years ago. Remember when two bone headed brothers in Boston beat up and urinated on a Hispanic homeless man? Remember Trump's <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/20/after-two-brothers-allegedly-beat-homeless-man-one-them-admiringly-quote-donald-trump-deporting-illegals/I4NXR3Dr7litLi2NB4f9TN/story.html">despicable response</a>?<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "It would be a shame.,, I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was that same "passion" that today put 19 people in the hospital and one in their grave. Donald Trump, as with so many right wingers before him, is playing the tried-and-true "other siderism" game. Diffuse the guilt by claiming, falsely, that all sides are to blame for the right wing violence we've seen in Charlottesville since last night.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; No, you umber douchebag: It was <i>not </i>all sides that resulted in 20 casualties in that ISIS-style terrorist attack. That dead person's blood is on your hands as surely as it's on the hands of Richard Spenser and every other neo Nazi, white nationalist empowered by you and your fake presidency.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm 58, going on 59. I'm old enough to remember the riots in Selma when white cops attacked peaceful black protesters with fire hoses and attack dogs. Then over a half century later, we've seen this nation come full circle, when KKK members, neo Nazis and white nationalists now openly flaunt their hatred in the streets and with police protection, at that. Ferguson and Baltimore showed us black people cannot peacefully assemble as per their First Amendment rights.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Charlottesville taught this weekend white nationalists <i>can</i> and with the blessings of law enforcement and that their president will not condemn their actions even when human lives are taken. The collective guilt Trump tried to spread out among every faction of society is false. The collective guilt we <i>should </i>feel is in letting this racist freak pretend he's the president and costing us all our allies and perhaps even plunging us into a nuclear war.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sure, many sides are to blame: The white nationalists, the white supremacists, the KKK, the neo Nazis... Those of us who don't pattern our lives on racist hatred? We're not the ones who put that poor innocent victim in their grave.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-53701154976909221222017-08-10T21:49:00.000-04:002017-08-10T21:49:00.998-04:00#MAGA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HnYbvnyig0M/WY0M8MwC2yI/AAAAAAAAeEY/kUH5mSosTA8yLDsKSJ65pEzoHr7Ka2QRQCLcBGAs/s1600/Trump-blank-tweet8-10-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="638" height="340" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HnYbvnyig0M/WY0M8MwC2yI/AAAAAAAAeEY/kUH5mSosTA8yLDsKSJ65pEzoHr7Ka2QRQCLcBGAs/s400/Trump-blank-tweet8-10-17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Who knew that <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGA?src=hash"><s>#</s><b>MAGA</b></a> would some day stand for "Make America Glow Again"?jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-37425896405051000192017-08-03T17:43:00.000-04:002017-08-03T17:43:17.818-04:00Good Times in Gotham City, 8/3/17<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xgPtO0kGepk/WYOUZIDIj4I/AAAAAAAAeDw/t1MwfNuuD-oam0R1p20Cl8KNxyhWAiv3ACLcBGAs/s1600/pville-8-3-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="450" height="253" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xgPtO0kGepk/WYOUZIDIj4I/AAAAAAAAeDw/t1MwfNuuD-oam0R1p20Cl8KNxyhWAiv3ACLcBGAs/s400/pville-8-3-17.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RufGmginIF8/WYOVTXEh0xI/AAAAAAAAeD0/KSdhakjkb3wCLlBkxwuLlsCgL_E-UwHtwCLcBGAs/s1600/pville-8-3-17-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="450" height="253" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RufGmginIF8/WYOVTXEh0xI/AAAAAAAAeD0/KSdhakjkb3wCLlBkxwuLlsCgL_E-UwHtwCLcBGAs/s400/pville-8-3-17-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p4F_eQd3l3c/WYOWc75nRYI/AAAAAAAAeD4/k8IuSqDs7zEdwRIgsX459Xk8xqoQMobcwCLcBGAs/s1600/pville-8-3-17-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="450" height="253" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p4F_eQd3l3c/WYOWc75nRYI/AAAAAAAAeD4/k8IuSqDs7zEdwRIgsX459Xk8xqoQMobcwCLcBGAs/s400/pville-8-3-17-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZD93G1rFVqc/WYOXYA_rR6I/AAAAAAAAeD8/pBuIqBzx124QRxoanLzgmwxA2cTE_1eawCLcBGAs/s1600/pville-8-3-17-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="450" height="248" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZD93G1rFVqc/WYOXYA_rR6I/AAAAAAAAeD8/pBuIqBzx124QRxoanLzgmwxA2cTE_1eawCLcBGAs/s400/pville-8-3-17-4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h25iMopVFLA/WYOY5d2CFjI/AAAAAAAAeEA/JSzza4BnaZgsBIqcDYDUUFXeyXwPl_07wCLcBGAs/s1600/pville-8-3-17-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="450" height="253" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h25iMopVFLA/WYOY5d2CFjI/AAAAAAAAeEA/JSzza4BnaZgsBIqcDYDUUFXeyXwPl_07wCLcBGAs/s400/pville-8-3-17-5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-88630295994101410982017-07-31T16:09:00.000-04:002017-07-31T16:30:35.902-04:00No WH Chaos!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bzee4GaoD1s/WX-IY1gMjII/AAAAAAAAeDk/qmiuEGmFY8gMJO7kd23O2Re8ZGfzm-OqgCLcBGAs/s1600/trump%2Btweet%2B7-31-17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="638" height="221" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Bzee4GaoD1s/WX-IY1gMjII/AAAAAAAAeDk/qmiuEGmFY8gMJO7kd23O2Re8ZGfzm-OqgCLcBGAs/s400/trump%2Btweet%2B7-31-17.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span class="u-linkComplex-target trend-name" dir="ltr">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/31/anthony-scaramucci-removed-as-white-house-communications-director/" dir="ltr" href="https://t.co/SfHt01wuX5" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" title="http://washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/31/anthony-scaramucci-removed-as-white-house-communications-director/"><span class="tco-ellipsis"></span></a> Sure. No chaos, Donnie Dumbo. Except for this little news item about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/31/anthony-scaramucci-removed-as-white-house-communications-director/">Anthony Scaramucci getting voted off the island</a>.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; So, to recap:<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; The world's most hilarious soap opera/reality TV show picked up where last week's hilarious news cycle ended on Friday night with the termination of Anthony Scaramucci by new Chief of Staff John Kelly. This means...<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The billionaire mobster that made Sean Spicer quit his post on the 21st also got Trump to fire Reince Priebus, his last remaining hope of making kissy face with the DC political establishment, whose replacement then fired the guy who got Trump to fire his predecessor. Sure, no chaos at all.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So Mooch lost his job 10 days after getting it then <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/scaramuccis-wife-filed-for-divorce-at-the-end-of-her-pregnancy-gave-birth-while-he-attended-trump-speech/">his wife filed for divorce days later</a> before giving birth to their child while her soon to be ex-husband was watching Trump make an ass of himself (again) at the Boy Scout Jamboree. Sounds like the makings of a Wall Street version of a country and western song, "I'm A'crying In My Dom Pérignon."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So now we have no:<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Secretary of the Army<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Secretary of the Navy<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Surgeon General<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Deputy Secretary of State<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; FBI Director but we <i>do </i>have <br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; A legally crippled Attorney General <br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; 135 spots in the federal judiciary with only two dozen pending<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Health care bill<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Spending bill except a draft with a two trillion dollar error<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Infrastructure bill<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; No strategy for defeating ISIS but a great one for combating a street gang and now no<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Communications Director or<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Director of Homeland Security.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; You know, Donnie Dumbo, I'm not as experienced as you in this presidenting business, but I <i>do</i> know one thing: When you're playing Musical Chairs, the idea is to have more people than open seats, not the other way around.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ivanka, surprisingly, seems to be the only person in the White House who's sane enough <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/30/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-241149">to realize her limitations</a>.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-3494590812057171962017-07-28T19:31:00.000-04:002017-07-28T19:49:05.667-04:00Assclowns of the Week #106: But Think of the Billionaires! edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wjydS4dd8RY/WXorqG0UDhI/AAAAAAAAeBo/6aSFchOFhwY0ovTzEP8EDKh5zI78lQ_OgCLcBGAs/s1600/Trump_Middlefinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="574" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wjydS4dd8RY/WXorqG0UDhI/AAAAAAAAeBo/6aSFchOFhwY0ovTzEP8EDKh5zI78lQ_OgCLcBGAs/s400/Trump_Middlefinger.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">(With a huge tip o' the tinfoil hat to Mrs. JP and her news wrangling)</div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Well, it <i>has</i> been an eventful week, hasn't it, Gothamites? This administration and Congress is looking more and more like the result of a James Bond novel where 007 actually failed. Trump (1, 5, 7, 8 &amp; 9) is reshuffling the sinking ship's deck chairs and creating vacancies at the same time he's filling them. Then there's the Senate GOP (2) getting a case of the sads because they couldn't deny millions of Americans the health care that they enjoy on our dime; New Comm Director Anthony Scaramucci (6) for inspiring millions of movie and music lovers to buy and download copies of <i>Goodfellas</i> and "Bohemian Rhapsody" and human furball Blake Farenthold (10) for channeling Andrew Jackson and threatening some rebel female Senators.</div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So hop aboard the HMS Titanic before it sinks for good as we sail past this week's assclowns and much, <i>much </i>more!<br /><b></b><br /><center><b> 10) Rep. Blake Farenthold</b></center><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aIftuN_FYfI/WXfOrCEygzI/AAAAAAAAeAk/k_I3hXJA3KIGXEviQj1yxE4NKmzjLeewQCLcBGAs/s1600/Farenthold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="600" height="265" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aIftuN_FYfI/WXfOrCEygzI/AAAAAAAAeAk/k_I3hXJA3KIGXEviQj1yxE4NKmzjLeewQCLcBGAs/s400/Farenthold.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When psychopaths such as Blake Farenthold of the 27th district of Texas sleaze into Congress, it ought to be an object lesson as well as a clarion call for Democrats to start fielding more appealing and credible candidates. When they don't, we get gap-toothed, pajama-clad homunculi like <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/blow-me-domain?utm_term=.buEvVm9Pr#.glnbA8reR">Blow-me Boy</a>. Well, on the 21st, Farenthold took to Corpus Christi radio and essentially challenged female Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, two notable holdouts regarding the health care procedural vote (and, later, the "skinny repeal" bill), <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2017/07/24/texas-congressman-wishes-duel-female-republican-senators/">to a duel</a>. In fact, this is exactly what pajama boy said:</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Some of the people that are opposed to this, there are female senators from the Northeast ... If it was a guy from South Texas, I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style."</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It ought to be noted that two and a half years ago, Farenthold's former aide had <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/12/16/former_staffer_sues_congressman_blake_farenthold_for_hostile_workplace.html">sued him for sexual harassment</a> and providing an uncomfortable workplace (his congressional office). The married father of two settled out of court without, like a typical Republican, admitting guilt. Since then, Farenthold had been re-elected not once but twice, meaning South Texas not only lowered the bar, they done buried it six feet under.</div><center>&nbsp;</center><b></b><br /><center><b> 9) </b><b>Donald Trump</b></center><center><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tisWaQlAHEI/WXvFwTe1n9I/AAAAAAAAeDQ/OE9x_YTjuOsgoMxnqbPNEkH6mEUeJBpPACLcBGAs/s1600/trump%2Bprison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="195" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tisWaQlAHEI/WXvFwTe1n9I/AAAAAAAAeDQ/OE9x_YTjuOsgoMxnqbPNEkH6mEUeJBpPACLcBGAs/s400/trump%2Bprison.jpg" width="301" /></a></div></b></center><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I hope the Capitol Police remember <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/trump-cops-please-dont-too-191552693.html">these words</a> when they come for him and his family.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; In between firing Rinsed Penis and screaming about Republican health care renegades, Trump kicked his weekend off by talking to law enforcement in Brentwood, NY and telling therm basically, Fuck civil liberties (as if they need more encouragement to ignore them). Because he said,<br /><div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="&quot;Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over. Like, 'don't hit their head' and they've just killed somebody,&quot; Trump said. &quot;'Don't hit their head.' I said, 'you can take the hand away.' OK?&quot;" data-reactid="26" type="text">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, 'please don't be too nice.' Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over. Like, 'don't hit their head' and they've just killed somebody, 'Don't hit their head.' I said, 'you can take the hand away.' OK?"</div><div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="&quot;Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over. Like, 'don't hit their head' and they've just killed somebody,&quot; Trump said. &quot;'Don't hit their head.' I said, 'you can take the hand away.' OK?&quot;" data-reactid="26" type="text">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; And the fascists behind him rejoiced.</div><div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="&quot;Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over. Like, 'don't hit their head' and they've just killed somebody,&quot; Trump said. &quot;'Don't hit their head.' I said, 'you can take the hand away.' OK?&quot;" data-reactid="26" type="text">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Thugs"? "Paddy wagon"? Is this assclown the President or a character out of a Mickey fucking Spillane potboiler?</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><b></b><br /><center><b> 8) Donald Trump</b></center><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S4mGRXikokk/WXpLO6ueNFI/AAAAAAAAeCU/U5frfqJgfIovp9iPG3sLVJ1201dcgqGQACLcBGAs/s1600/dead%2Blucky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S4mGRXikokk/WXpLO6ueNFI/AAAAAAAAeCU/U5frfqJgfIovp9iPG3sLVJ1201dcgqGQACLcBGAs/s400/dead%2Blucky.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When I heard that Donald Trump was sending his "beleaguered" Attorney General Jeff Sessions to El Salvador <a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/his-future-clouded-sessions-opens-mission-to-el-salvador-1.13844836">to combat MS-13</a>, Leo Ryan and Jonestown was the first thing I thought of. Seriously, the evil and menace radiated by Trump, Scaramucci and Steve Bannon is such that assholes like Sean Spicer and Jeff "Hey, Boy, Get Me a Mint Julep!" Sessions are <i>almost</i> worthy of sympathy. Seriously, why is he sending our Attorney General down to South America to fight a street gang created by the Reagan administration when the immediate threat (so he told us on the campaign trail) is ISIS?</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe they were the ones who pulled off the infamous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_massacre">Bowling Green</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/19/sweden-trump-cites-non-existent-terror-attack">Swedish</a> massacres.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><b></b><b></b><br /><center><b> 7)&nbsp; Donald Trump</b></center><center><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cjXC2Toj5g0/WXuzvlARqoI/AAAAAAAAeDE/850o8qjToEotWP1GjhoTB8-0-BFIUFBWgCLcBGAs/s1600/reince-kelly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cjXC2Toj5g0/WXuzvlARqoI/AAAAAAAAeDE/850o8qjToEotWP1GjhoTB8-0-BFIUFBWgCLcBGAs/s400/reince-kelly.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></b></center><div style="text-align: left;"><b>&nbsp; &nbsp;</b>&nbsp; Poor Rinsed Penis. Poor John Kelly.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Donald Trump apparently believed Don Tony "the Mooch" Scaramucci's conspiracy theories about Reince Priebus leaking his perfectly open and accessible financial disclosure form. Because at the same exact moment news of Scaramucci's impending divorce broke, news also broke of Donald Trump shitcanning (<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/891038014314598400">on Twitter</a>, no less) his Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and switching him out for Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in an effort to reshuffle the Titanic's deck chairs (a few hours before this, it broke that <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mcmaster-removes-flynn-pick-derek-harvey-national-security-council-n787146">McMaster had fired Michael Flynn pick and Bannon ally Derek Harvey</a> from the National Security Council.).</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It ought to be pointed out that while I've taken some famous jabs at Rinsed Penis over the years since he was RNC Chairman, it takes a James Bond-class of villain like Trump or Scaramucci to engender any pity for the former Chief of Staff. While he was a national joke because of it, it must be said his support for Trump hardly ever wavered. Yet Trump, in his infamous one-way loyalty, fired him on the recommendations of a fellow billionaire scumbag who was one of his most vocal critics just two years ago. All I can say is, if Reince and Spicey go halvsies on a tell-all memoir, I'll shell out $100 for it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><b></b><br /><center><b> 6) </b><b>Anthony Scaramucci</b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uM3RGcQoJxI/WXossHaP5pI/AAAAAAAAeBw/s4FYX6QTJvIqmNSMugNOI4FMJ55MUta0QCLcBGAs/s1600/mooch3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uM3RGcQoJxI/WXossHaP5pI/AAAAAAAAeBw/s4FYX6QTJvIqmNSMugNOI4FMJ55MUta0QCLcBGAs/s400/mooch3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>&nbsp;</b>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After all the shit that poor Sean Spicer went through in his six months as Press Secretary, something truly wicked that way must've come to make him leave so abruptly on July 21st. In no time flat, we learned it was Trump making Goldman Sachs alum and the Beltway's newest eligible bachelor Anthony Scaramucci as Communications Director. Mooch, who's a coke-addicted 80's-era TV executive's idea of what a mob lawyer should look like, immediately made his presence felt in his first presser by blowing a kiss to the press pool (like a Mafia don just sprung on a technicality from multiple murder charges).</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ytn2kceDEA/WXtiAnuPOJI/AAAAAAAAeCk/Pg_wKkE9yKIP9F8SmUq6lcSJWv1HpKyYgCLcBGAs/s1600/mooch-mobster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="649" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ytn2kceDEA/WXtiAnuPOJI/AAAAAAAAeCk/Pg_wKkE9yKIP9F8SmUq6lcSJWv1HpKyYgCLcBGAs/s400/mooch-mobster.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mooch, you may remember, was a vocal critic of Donald Trump on Twitter and elsewhere just two years ago. When he was appointed to the post, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/22/read-anthony-scaramuccis-old-tweets-youll-understand-why-he-deleted-them/">he immediately scrubbed his Twitter account</a>, calling it an act of "transparency." But fear not because the Man With the Patent Leather Pompadour has plenty of fresh assclownery on tap as just recently he blamed recently-fired Chief of Staff Reince Priebus for <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/anthony-scaramucci-reince-priebus/index.html">leaking his financial disclosure form</a> (which is perfectly permissible. You'd think a Harvard-educated lawyer would know that) before sorta walking back the accusation in an <a href="http://www.cetusnews.com/news/The-35-most-eye-popping-quotes-from-Anthony-Scaramucci%27s-CNN-interview.SJbxGm6l5PUZ.html">epically bizarre interview</a> with Chris Lizza. Which is nothing compared to <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon">an earlier phone call</a> Lizza got from Scaramucci that reads like an X-rated version of <i>The Onion</i>. Or a rampaging mob boss who just found out <i>omerta</i> had been broken. Gee, I can't imagine why his wife Deidre <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4740888/Anthony-Scaramucci-wife-Deidre-files-divorce.html">would file for divorce</a> the same day Rinsed Penis was fired. Who <i>wouldn't</i> want to be married to a guy who would look perfectly natural digging a shallow grave in the Jersey pine barrens? </div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If this ultimate lickspittle has a moral compass, it's pointing straight down to Hell and up Satan's asshole.</div></center><center><b>&nbsp;</b></center><b></b><br /><center><b>&nbsp;5) Donald Trump</b></center><center><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K9bZGdoGrOM/WXjx08yZa6I/AAAAAAAAeBU/KcfzbcV43wsoE2fwMXsMrXOtVpMHHvdWACLcBGAs/s1600/trump-pride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-K9bZGdoGrOM/WXjx08yZa6I/AAAAAAAAeBU/KcfzbcV43wsoE2fwMXsMrXOtVpMHHvdWACLcBGAs/s400/trump-pride.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></b></center><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><b></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One fine morning, Donald Trump arose from his bed (or maybe didn't, considering his work habits), logged onto Twitter and decided to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/trump-military-transgender-ban-joint-chiefs/index.html">ban transgender people</a> from serving in the military. As if his Twitter feed carries as much legal weight as an executive order, Act of Congress or new set of guidelines formally submitted to the Pentagon. Naturally, this strange faux ban on transgendered service members confused LGBT Trumpers who thought, "But, but... he once held our flag upside down with the tips of his fingers!"<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It also took the Joint Chiefs (whom Trump said he'd consulted) by surprise. Once they got wind of this, they had to send out a communique that read:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGmXxqcPRdc/WXuH9I2Sx7I/AAAAAAAAeC0/s6ixzlwkSMU8UdtSdNyBX3XmAldryZyKgCLcBGAs/s1600/joint%2Bchiefs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="960" height="215" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGmXxqcPRdc/WXuH9I2Sx7I/AAAAAAAAeC0/s6ixzlwkSMU8UdtSdNyBX3XmAldryZyKgCLcBGAs/s400/joint%2Bchiefs.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Looks like Caitlyn Jenner doesn't <a href="https://www.advocate.com/politics/2017/7/14/caitlyn-jenner-meet-nikki-haley-insists-giving-trump-chance">have as much pull</a> in the Trump White House as she thought she did. Although why she was so surprised by Trumps's unofficial transgender policy this past week <a href="http://www.indystar.com/story/life/people/2017/02/24/caitlyn-jenner-calls-trump-transgender-decision-a-disaster/98345398/">is a mystery</a>.</div><br /><b>4)</b> <b>Jared Kushner</b></div><center><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--fcM_0r3v9c/WXo5Fhsg4VI/AAAAAAAAeCA/V19B2SBMgmMeNLYNzQdiyL493ObLt2EeQCLcBGAs/s1600/mobsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1100" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--fcM_0r3v9c/WXo5Fhsg4VI/AAAAAAAAeCA/V19B2SBMgmMeNLYNzQdiyL493ObLt2EeQCLcBGAs/s400/mobsters.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></b><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I've been saying this for years now and it's even more true now than when I began saying it- The key to plausible deniability is that it has to be <i>plausible</i>. And it doesn't help in the interests of plausibility if one camp says something and another says the exact opposite, especially during a very serious federal investigation regarding the matter. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/24/politics/kushner-russia-statement-trump-denials/index.html">Jared Kushne</a>r came wading into the swamp we're still waiting for Daddy Warbucks to drain to say that he had meetings with the Russians but that no collusion took place. What else could he say? His brother in law Fredo essentially ratted him out by releasing his own emails just before the <i>New York Times</i> was going to.</div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This would be one of the several meetings that just slipped Jared's mind while filling out his SF86 form. Instead of being thrown in prison for omitting important meetings with the Russians well within the last seven years, he was allowed to <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/07/17/kushner_reportedly_updated_foreign_contacts_three_times_on_national_security.html">resubmit the form</a> not once not twice but <i>three</i> times. If the federal government ever recaptures its interest in doing its job, the slender young man with the handsome baby face and high feminine voice will be quite a hit in the prison showers.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></center><b></b><br /><center><b>&nbsp;3) House Republican Leadership</b></center><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><center><blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><div dir="ltr" lang="en">THIS IS MUST WATCH VIDEO! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TrumpRussiaCollusionConfirmed?src=hash">#TrumpRussiaCollusionConfirmed</a> According To A June 15, 2016 Recording <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hardball?src=hash">#Hardball</a> <a href="https://t.co/MQX8stOYQR">pic.twitter.com/MQX8stOYQR</a></div>— #LaquanMcDonald (@ifuaskmee) <a href="https://twitter.com/ifuaskmee/status/890716777814126592">July 27, 2017</a></blockquote><br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></center></blockquote>&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; "What would you say, Mr. Speaker, if I told you we know the Ukrainian Prime Minister warned you June 15th last year about the Russians hacking the DNC and stealing their opposition research on Donald Trump and then House Republican Leadership laughed about it before pledging to keep in the family?"<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "It's pure fiction."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "We have the transcripts."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "They're fake."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "We have the audio recordings."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "Uh, let me 'adjust' my statement... it wasn't me talking."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That's essentially the conversation between the <i>WaPo</i> and Paul Ryan recently.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well, that's not exactly true. They didn't deny the meeting took place. But on his own website, <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/press-release/statement-meeting-ukrainian-prime-minister-volodymyr-groysman">this is all</a> Paul Ryan had to say about this bombshell of a meeting. Paul just left out the part about the Russian hacking and laughing about Rohrabacher and Trump being on "Putin's payroll."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Oh, and his request for a cover-up. There's that, too.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Like Jared Kushner and his own dealings with the Russians on his SF86 form, must've just slipped his mind. Who can keep track of all those meetings detailing the subversion of our very democratic electoral process?<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></div><b></b><br /><center><b>&nbsp;</b></center><b></b><br /><center><b> 2) John McCain and the Senate GOP</b></center><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fxjtTZpohao/WXorc5LmuyI/AAAAAAAAeBk/OrC82SJz96IKVJQne5c5u9t6B6OrcKZcQCLcBGAs/s1600/mccain_dildo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1050" height="234" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fxjtTZpohao/WXorc5LmuyI/AAAAAAAAeBk/OrC82SJz96IKVJQne5c5u9t6B6OrcKZcQCLcBGAs/s320/mccain_dildo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; For decades, John McCain has been less of a maverick and more of a Jekyll and Hyde type of legislator. He showed it this past week by dragging himself off a sick bed just days after being diagnosed with brain cancer and voted for the ACA Repeal in a procedural vote. Then two days later on Thursday night, McCain surprised everyone by withholding his vote until the last minute and, like a Roman emperor, lowered his thumb and voted against the "skinny repeal" bill that would've kicked at least 15,000,000 people off their health care plans. He did it in Mitch McConnell's face. He might as well have used his middle finger.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="250" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-VP4NVj2jUI" width="440"></iframe><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Later, McConnell was blubbering on national TV and other GOP senators who were too disconsolate to talk over their failure in taking health care away from enough people to fill New York City twice over. Yes, the Republican Party hates the idea of quality, affordable health care that saves lives so much they're emotionally invested in <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/19ae32c0-a337-3b16-9034-8e61c700fbbe/ss_couple-jump-to-their-deaths.html">your death</a>. I really hope Indie and right wing voters remember this level of sadism in next year's mid terms and that they vote these genocidal cunts out of office once and for all.</div><center>&nbsp;</center><b></b><b></b><br /><center><b> 1) "President" Donald Trump</b></center><b></b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xPwGSFpvBUc/WXfPjCdytMI/AAAAAAAAeAs/W7RZvBjOOv0rAmhWhkJdUKqhjGx9mCC8ACLcBGAs/s1600/hitler%2Byouth%2Bleague.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="636" height="247" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xPwGSFpvBUc/WXfPjCdytMI/AAAAAAAAeAs/W7RZvBjOOv0rAmhWhkJdUKqhjGx9mCC8ACLcBGAs/s400/hitler%2Byouth%2Bleague.JPG" width="400" /></a></b></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts of America in WV was eerily reminiscent of Hitler in April 1945 pressing into service the Nazi Youth League who would be the last line of defense from the encroaching Russians. The metaphor is especially tempting as Trump himself is psychologically bunkered because of the investigation into,,, the Russians. And, like the guy who also made a <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/german-soviet-nonaggression-pact">secret deal with the Russians</a> regarding the Balkans, with the kind of vigor one only sees in the extremely paranoid, Trump used the Jamboree as a way of beating up the media, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Senator Capito, HHS Secretary Tom Price (whose job he threatened) and a secret jab at Jeff Sessions ("(W)e could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that..").<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; In fact, Trump's speech was so horrible and provoked such a backlash that the head of the Boy Scouts of America <a href="http://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/">publicly apologized in a letter</a>.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So if the walking brain dead who voted for Trump don't want him compared to Hitler, then maybe they can slip him a message to stop acting like him.&nbsp; Because, the guy who <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-adolf-hitler-books-bedside-cabinet-ex-wife-ivana-trump-vanity-fair-1990-a7639041.html">sleeps with Hitler's speeches</a> beside his bed already shares enough similarities with Der Fuhrer from his <a href="https://www.sott.net/article/264026-Adolph-Hitler-Vegetarian-teetotaler-anti-smoking-campaigner">stance on alcohol, tobacco</a> and even <a href="http://hot-facts.blogspot.com/2011/02/facts-about-adolf-hitler-strangefacts.html">chocolate cake</a>, to say nothing of his ultra right wing policies.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3738072046649302666.post-68452235818773720502017-07-25T15:03:00.000-04:002017-07-25T15:55:21.397-04:00Get 'Em While They're Young<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yGsyjvCVA3Q/WXeVtUSGYbI/AAAAAAAAeAM/WR-rbxq-KVENI5IRU5DddF46b_lMQ9EBQCLcBGAs/s1600/nazi_rally.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="851" height="191" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yGsyjvCVA3Q/WXeVtUSGYbI/AAAAAAAAeAM/WR-rbxq-KVENI5IRU5DddF46b_lMQ9EBQCLcBGAs/s400/nazi_rally.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So there the fat fascist stood yesterday, twisting and gyrating as if with a full bladder behind a podium outrageously emblazoned with the Seal of the Presidency of the United States, and attacking his predecessor for not being at the last <a href="https://www.blogger.com/Boston,%20May%201854.%20The%20cobblestones%20spattered%20long%20ago%20with%20the%20blood%20of%20liberty-loving%20patriots%20are%20about%20to%20be%20bathed%20with%20more%20blood.%20https://www.createspace.com/5920087">Boy Scout Jamboree</a>. He began by using profanity, asking the 12 to 18 year-olds in attendance, "Who the hell wants to speak about politics?"<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Then he launched into an intermittent political tirade about "fake news", Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the health care bill up for a procedural vote in the Senate today and everything else that popped into his addled mind. One is amazed he didn't mention his comrades in the Kremlin.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The man who was never a Boy Scout and once claimed as a deduction on his 1989 tax form a <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/16/phone-call-between-trump-and-pm-may-leaked/">$7 charitable donation</a> to the BSA, the man who less than a week ago <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/trump-declines-invitation-speak-naacp-convention-48732715">ducked an invitation</a> to attend the NAACP's annual convention, actually had the nerve to lambaste Obama for not being present at the last Jamboree in 2013. Let's just forget the fact America's last real President declined the invitation in protest of the Boy Scouts ongoing anti LGBT policies that root out and expel gay scouts and scout masters. Let's forget about the fact that the President was a Boy Scout at the same time Trump was dodging the draft for a phantom ailment and that Mr. Obama, unlike Trump, had actually had some Boy Scouts visit him in the Oval Office.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was just another example of a growing skein of amazingly inappropriate speeches delivered by Trump in contravention to the event at hand such as his recent commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy, his speech before paid shills at CIA HQ and all too many others. Yet, despite this and much more, calling out West Virginia's Senator Shelley Moore Capito and actually threatening HHS Secretary Tom Price's job in front of 35,000 if he didn't get enough votes for the Wealth Care Bill, Trump received all the adulation he craves yet never seems to get enough of. One Scout (or maybe a paid shill, who knows with Trump?) said, "I love you!" and the impressionable boys in attendance cheered, booed and hissed at the preordained times, despite the Jamboree's blog forbidding them from making it a political rally as Trump had planned to all along<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It made me wonder when we will finally reach the tipping point when we finally realize the man playing the President is irredeemably, irrevocably, completely insane. Walking off Air Force One and <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-limousine-631880">walking past his gigantic limo</a> nicknamed the Beast? <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/26/watch-mentally-trump-wander-meeting-brought-staff.html">Walking away in a daze</a> from Israel's Prime Minister before shaking his hand? <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/politics/donald-trump-executive-order-signing-walk-out/index.html">Walking out of the Oval Office</a> without signing an Executive Order the press waited for him to sign and making Vice President Pence run after him with it?<br />&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Been there, done that. So what'll it take? It seems the longer his still-nascent administration drags on, the more pronounced is Trump's wanderlust. It seems the only things he can stay focused on, aside from how much America unanimously loves him, is Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the Russia investigation and "fake news."<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As someone who's worked in two nursing homes before, I can tell you we had protocols in place to keep our demented residents from wandering off as Trump constantly does. The doors and even the elevator was key coded and given only to the staff so they wouldn't wander off the grounds. And the dazed look in Trump's eyes as he wanders off to parts unknown is pretty telling of a degenerative mental state from which we'd try to protect our residents, some of whom being younger than the 71 year-old Trump.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But not everything can be blamed on Alzheimer's or dementia or whatever is constantly ailing Trump. It's not as if Trump had come out of nowhere as a dark horse or that he hadn't had a well-publicized history of committing adultery, beating his wives, sexually assaulting females as young as 13, stiffing contractors and putting them out of business, not to mention decades-long collusion with Russia. It's not as if we weren't armed with this information on Election Day last year.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When John McCain was running for the Presidency nine years ago, I said then that McCain could walk out of the White House without his pants and everyone in his administration would find endless ways to cover for him. They'd already done it before during Reagan's second term (he plainly wasn't all there). Because on Capitol Hill, it's all about party primacy, incumbency and holding onto one's job for as long as humanly possible.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Screw the country and what's best for it. And screw the Boy Scouts. Trump will never get so demented that isn't all about <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/16/phone-call-between-trump-and-pm-may-leaked/">him, Him, HIM</a>.jurassicporkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.com0